A Different Summer
by ElrodAlbino
Summary: After Angelus is sent to hell, the Scoobies get together to discuss what's next, changing the story from there on.  Ensemble cast
1. A Watcher's thoughts

I don't own the characters in this story, only the arrangement of ideas

Personal Journal of Rupert Giles

August 27th, 1998

As the summer draws to a close, I would like to take a moment to ponder and reflect upon the events that have occurred over the past three months. Life has continued here in Sunnydale, even with the absence of Buffy. The events of last May took a heavy toll upon her, driving her to run and hide from all she knew, and leaving the city undefended. Fortunately, the long summer months in California have equally long days, and vampires are few and scarce, what with an average of fourteen hours of direct sunlight every day keeping them under wraps and laying low. There were a few minor demon incursions, but rumors of Angelus and Acathla have kept most of the supernatural community at bay, though I fear their wariness will soon fade, and we will once again be confronted with demonic activities inspired by the Hellmouth. By then I hope Buffy has returned from her self-imposed exile in Los Angeles, and that she has been able to forgive herself.

It is not of Buffy herself I wish to think, but instead of her companions, whom she colourfully refers to as the Scoobies. This summer has seen a number of startling changes in these youths, many of which fill me with pride, as well as the usual amount of confusion I receive from American teenagers. Shortly after Buffy left, her friends had congregated at my house, and were leading a lively discussion as to what they would do without Buffy, at quite a startling volume, if I recall correctly. As the debate raged back and forth without resolution, Joyce Summers, Buffy's mother, arrived on the scene quite unexpectedly. She managed to silence the cacophony with a glance, and then proceeded to speak some of the most profoundly moving words I have yet had the privilege of hearing.

She expressed first her terror and her pride that a group of young people regularly faced the supernatural menaces to which the general populace of the town remains willfully ignorant. She confided in us that she had been unable to sleep since Buffy had run away, and had been sick with worry, both about where she was and what she had already gone through. Finally, and most surprising to my perspective, she asked what we could do to ensure that the town would remain standing when her daughter returned home, and to support her when she did, specifically including herself in the group. Here was a woman who had just received a series of terrible shocks within two or three days, and rather than fall apart, she instead drew herself together for the sake of her daughter, and started to plan how to better protect her from dangers that, until a few days previous, she had no idea existed.

The five of us sat down and began to create a plan. As we talked, more information was added, until we had quite an overwhelming list of things we needed to do. At this point, Miss Rosenberg took charge and simplified the list down to a much more manageable level.

Pulling some strings with a few contacts I managed to acquire in the American government, young Mr. Harris was allowed to test to see if he qualified as a trained soldier, and thus would be eligible to bypass basic military training and go directly to Camp Pendleton for Corpsman training, despite him not yet being of legal age. Miss Rosenberg spent several hours at her infernal computer to correct that oversight, and between the memories he'd gained from his soldier persona during Ethan's Hallowe'en fiasco, Miss Rosenberg's computer magic, and calling in a few favours owed to me, he was able to not only participate but also pass the US Navy's Medical Corpsman training, which both re-enforced his soldier memories and skills, and also gives us access to a field medic, should we need one.

One issue that I would have completely overlooked had not Mr. Osbourne mentioned it was mental health as well. The Watcher's council has never been overly concerned with the mental well-being of the Slayers they guide, seeing them mostly as disposable weapons in the fight against the supernatural, so I had never familiarized myself with the studies done on soldiers in combat situations. Shell-shock, post-traumatic stress disorder, battle fatigue, regardless of the name used, are catch-all terms for when the stress of killing and coming close to death overwhelm a soldier and pushes him beyond his mental reserves and triggers a break-down, which, for better or for worse, fits the behavior that Buffy had been exhibiting prior to her flight. Soldiers in combat situations also have a level of suicide that ranges from six to fourteen times as high as a soldier at home after as little as a single eight month tour in a war zone. As I researched this topic, I felt a cold weight settle into my stomach, realizing that a seventeen-year old girl, even a supernaturally gifted one, lacked many of the defenses that a trained soldier would possess to combat the problems that would arise from this stress. In the two years since she became active at the Hellmouth, Buffy had been subjected to more horrors than any rational person could believe, and without support from her mother, who had been kept in the dark, it was almost inevitable that she would eventually suffer some sort of mental deterioration. True, she was reinforced by the spirit of the slayer, but even then, she's seen so much death and suffering, some at the hands of her former paramour, that she must have been hanging on by a frayed thread of sanity.

Fortunately, Mr. Osbourne had a solution as well. After he had been bitten by his cousin and become a werewolf, he had begun to look into a method of controlling the change. Certain types of meditation seemed to be most effective, along with a mystical and pharmaceutical regime, and while at the beginning of the summer he had not made any significant progress with control, he now can prevent the change unless he is exposed to the light of the full moon, is injured or smells a significant quantity of blood on the days of the full moon. He spent a great deal of time over the summer meditating, playing music, and talking to both Miss Rosenberg and his cousin, as a type of counseling, and has developed an almost palpable aura of calm around him. Both Mr. Harris and Miss Rosenberg have mentioned that just having him in the room quietly playing music has a calming effect, and he's apparently quite the listener as well, allowing them to unburden themselves to a non-judgmental peer. This is the first step in counseling, and is an adequate stop-gap measure until I can locate a professional psychiatrists who won't be tempted to lock up one of my charges for the stories they tell.

One of the issues raised by Mr. Harris was that all of the slaying equipment I had been providing Buffy with was more appropriate for the time of Queen Victoria than modern day use. I am, of course, paraphrasing one of his baffling pop culture references. I retorted that firearms were useless when it comes to killing vampires, to which he replied that they had worked quite well against the Judge. I relented, and he began to outline his ideas. Modern body armor is lightweight and low-profile, allowing one to wear it under normal, if slightly large, clothing without garnering too much attention. Demolitions and fire are also effective against a wide range of vampires and demons, if both noisy and potentially dangerous. Noise-suppressed, low-caliber pistols are not quite as quiet as films would have you believe, but are not significantly louder than a serious altercation, and while they won't kill a vampire, they can slow them down. A shotgun is not a subtle weapon, but is able to remove a person's head, and likely that of a vampire as well. His masterstroke was using a toy, a compressed-air gun used by teenagers to play something called paintball. He suggested replacing the paint with holy water and garlic, an expensive proposition, but one that could potentially mow down ranks of vampires in seconds. Miss Rosenberg added that personal radios or mobile telephones would also be effective for coordinating actions. Of course, all of this would cost money that the council had no interest in sending me, believing that if something has worked for the last two hundred years, there's no need to change it now.

Joyce asked young Mr. Harris what the cost would be, and paled visibly when she was told that the body armor alone would be some fifty thousand dollars if it was to be at all effective against the sort of threats my charges were wont to fight. Eventually we agreed to start up a fund, based on our own resources, and see about investing it with the eventual goal of purchasing the equipment we desired. Joyce and I each donated twenty thousand dollars, more than we could truly afford, but the idea of having a budget for things such as this and more relevant research tomes was very tempting. Mr. Harris surprised us by adding in several thousand dollars after mumbling something about a "travel fund". Joyce and Miss Rosenberg managed the fund, but were unable to obtain significant growth after several weeks. Help here came from an unexpected quarter, when Miss Chase noticed what was going on, criticized it severely, and returned with a cheque for one hundred thousand dollars, an investment portfolio, and a warning that she would be withdrawing her capital investment upon graduation from high school, and talking half of the interest it had garnered as well. Joyce turned the project over to the two girls, who managed to double the money between then and now, with a combination of Miss Rosenberg's intelligence and Miss Chase's investment knowledge, knowledge she no doubt garnered from her father.

Miss Chase was also helpful in another unexpected manner, as she was the one who found Buffy. Not directly, but she did circulate her picture among her society friends and ask them to keep an eye out for her, but not to approach. As a result, we knew Buffy was working as a waitress named Anne in Los Angeles by mid-June. This information led to another debate, thankfully free of Mr. Harris' interjections since he was at Pendleton at that point, as to if we should retrieve Buffy. In this case, Mr. Osbourne had the surprising last word, saying that we knew where she was if we needed her, and that she deserved a chance to get away from this life at least for a short while. We found it impossible to debate this logic, though Joyce glances at the diner every time she goes up there for business.

There were also a number of developments during the summer that I have found less than ideal. While we did manage to get all charges against Buffy dismissed, she is still expelled, and Snyder has made himself unavailable during the summer. When I do manage to corner him like the rat he is, he will pass an agreement to allow her back in school, even if I must rip it from him.

Mr. Osbourne has also managed to find a way for both he and Mr. Harris to become temporarily super-human, based upon their past experiences. By practicing a type of meditation, combined with some mystical help, the two young men are able to channel a part of the beast that lies inside of them, the wolf for Mr. Osbourne and the hyena for Mr. Harris. While they become stronger, faster and tougher than a normal human in this state, they still fall short of vampires, demons and slayers, though the experiences they've gained in these past two years do help to close that gap. My real worry about this technique is both the limited duration that the state can be attained for, as neither of them have managed to hold on to the enhancement for more than five minutes when sparring with each other, though Mr. Osbourne did manage to bench press over three hundred pounds for the span of half an hour once, and also the dangers of losing themselves in their beasts. There have been times in the testing that both of them have had feral outbursts of anger, before falling out of the state entirely in a daze. I worry that the stress of combat could awaken these beasts beyond their means to control, and rather than providing assistance, they would then become a hindrance, if not an outright danger.

My last true worry is that Miss Rosenberg has been assisting these two with the magical aspects of the transformations. She did all the research on her own, and cast the initial spells on them after consulting with me to ensure her work was correct, and when I agreed it was she proceeded despite my reservations. I know all too well the price that magic can exact, and I have tried to instruct her to be cautious with magic, and to use it with great care. I doubt that my teachings have given her much insight into the workings of magic, but she has approached it with more caution, which is at least a partial victory.

I also grow concerned with the council of Watchers. They were initially pleased with Buffy's tenure as slayer, but her eighteenth birthday is in less than a year, and they will insist on the cruciamentum being performed. I not only disagree with this barbaric ritual, but I don't believe that I have the will to carry it out on her now. Despite the council's teaching of staying detached from the slayer, I find that the remarkable strength of character my young charge has shown combined with her ingenuity and her stubbornness has grown on me, and she is becoming almost as a daughter to me. I must tread carefully here, both to avoid breaking the bond of trust we have, and also to avoid upsetting the council enough for them to see us as more trouble than we are worth. I have begun to accidentally leave books describing the cruciamentum around when Miss Rosenberg is doing research, but I don't believe she has noticed yet. If she doesn't read them soon, I may be forced to take more direct methods, potentially endangering us all.

Concerns aside, I believe we have done well this summer. Buffy is taking a much needed break from the Hellmouth, and hopefully she will return shortly, to resume her duties as a slayer, to return and finish her high-school education, and most importantly, to be around those whom she loves and cares for. We have accomplished a great deal this summer. Hopefully we'll be alive to celebrate the next one.

AN: I've had this in my mind for a few days, so I wanted to get it out. If people like it, I may continue it. If someone else REALLY likes it, they can adopt it.


	2. Homecoming

I own no character with the last name Summers. If I did, Dawn would have been called Autumn.

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><p>Buffy rolled her shoulders as she got off the Greyhound. The ride from L.A. to Sunnydale wasn't that long, but it wasn't a five minute hop either. She was apprehensive of returning, not sure what was waiting for her here, what with the being wanted for murder and all, but it was time. She'd been gone for the summer, three whole months without a single thought of vampires or demons or…Angel.<p>

Buffy shuddered and hugged her arms to herself, shivering despite the California heat, as she tried to push those thoughts from her mind. She tried to distract herself by looking around and figuring out how to get…could she still call it home? After her confrontation with her mother, and subsequent flight from Sunnydale, Buffy wasn't sure if she was still welcome there.

"Only back here for five minutes and already with the depressing thoughts." Buffy shook her head to clear it. Even if she was kicked out right away, she owed it to her mom to see her, to try and explain. Pulling her determination together, she made her way towards the taxi stand.

Ten minutes later, she was standing in front of 1630 Revello drive as the taxi pulled away, awkwardly holding her bag in front of her. She could see lights on in the living room, but she couldn't see her mom inside.

"Come on Buffy, just walk up to the door and knock, and say 'Hi mom, am I still kicked out of the house?' No, that would be awkward. I should just, well, I should just stop talking to myself."

With a deep sigh, Buffy walked up to the door. Screwing up her courage, she hesitated only once before knocking on the door. As she heard someone moving around inside the house, she almost chickened out and ran, but managed to stay there as the door opened, and she was looking at her mother for the first time since their argument in May.

"Um, hi moooomph!" Buffy's greeting was muffled as Joyce swept her into a hug that could have done considerable internal damage had she not been the Slayer. As her mother held her and rocked her back and forth, Buffy felt the cold that had wrapped itself around her soul after she sent Angel to Hell begin to melt. A Californian summer may be hot, but it takes a mother's love to make you feel warm inside.

Buffy sat on the couch with her mother, sipping hot chocolate with a drawn smile on her face. They had exchanged light pleasantries, and it was obvious that her mother was glad to have her back, but the younger Summers was still nervous about everything that had happened before she'd run away to L.A.

"So, mom, I guess I've got a lot to explain." Buffy stared down at her lap as she started to gather her thoughts on how to start.

"Actually, Rupert and your friends were very helpful with explaining things. I can't say I'm happy that you've been fighting monsters for the past three years and felt the need to keep it from me, but I am proud of you and what you've accomplished." Buffy raised her head and stared at her mother in shock. "We've managed to get the murder investigation on you dropped and struck from the record because you're still a minor, and you've been un-expelled as well, so really, what I want to talk about it you." Buffy's look of shock had become resigned at the mention of returning to school, and back to nervous as her mother brought the focus of the conversation back to her.

Joyce looked deeply into her daughter's eyes, noting the telltale signs of fear. Smiling reassuringly, she took her daughter's hand in hers. "I'm not angry Buffy. Worried, yes. Proud, certainly. But most of all, I want to know how you feel about everything. Your summer, your slaying, your friends, I just want to know where your life is going and how I can help. I'm your mother, Buffy, I'm supposed to be supportive. But I can't do that if I don't know what I'm supporting."

Looking back at her mother, Buffy let a small smile cross her face. "Honestly? I'm still kindof confused over everything and feelings and things. I needed to run, to get some space this summer and try and figure out who I was, and what I wanted to do. I'm still not sure about everything, but I can't run from who I am anymore. I am the Slayer, but sometimes it's so hard. I'm trying to balance school, and slaying, and have some time for some kind of social life, and it was just exhausting. Studying for finals is nothing compared to planning to stop an apocalypse."

Joyce paused, thinking of how much she should reveal to her daughter right away. She was so happy to have her back after the summer away that she didn't want to burden her with all of the plans and details that had been worked out by the rest of the Scoobies, but she also didn't want Buffy to get overstressed and panic again. She decided to give it a start, but to let the big details wait for another day. "Well, it may be easier now. Your little group of friends came up with some plans to help you out, not only with school and…slaying, but also to give you more time to relax." Buffy gave her mother a look suggesting that she'd just grown another head, causing Joyce to laugh. "I'm serious. When Willow gets into her planning mode she's quite impressive. I'll let them share the details with you tomorrow, but tonight I'm feeling selfish, and I want to keep my daughter to myself now that she's back. Tomorrow you can go and see Rupert and your friends, but tonight you're not the Slayer, or a student, you're my daughter that I haven't seen in a long time and I missed terribly much."

Buffy finally gave her mom a real smile "I think I like that mom. Thanks."

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><p>A.N. I know that this takes place at the beginning of season 3, and that some may complain that Buffy has only been slaying for 2 years, but the movie is canonical, so it's closer to 3.<p>

I'm also looking for a beta reader. I can spell and use grammar well enough, but I occasionally have problems writing in a given character's voice. I'm not sure how well I can reproduce Buffy's way of speaking, for example. I can probably manage most of the rest of the cast, so I find it somewhat amusing that the title character is the one I have the most issue with. Any volunteers are welcome to PM me.

Next update should be in a few days. I just wanted to get the story rolling


	3. True friends and confessions

I honestly and genuinely own all of the characters in this story, despite what the lawyers say

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><p>Buffy awoke with a start, feeling out of place and momentarily dizzy. She looked around, not seeing her crappy apartment, but a well-furnished bedroom, and then she remembered she was home. As her muscles unclenched, she thought that word again. Home. It brought a smile to her face. She'd come back to Sunnydale, and her mother had accepted her, no questions asked. Ok, some questions asked, but only general mom-type questions, not "are you guilty of murder?" or stuff like that. She lay back on her bed, far more aware of how comfy it was after a summer working minimum wage in L.A., and took a deep breath. And with that deep breath a wonderful scent came to her nose, a scent of oranges, and figs and sugar. Buffy's eyes snapped open as her stomach made itself known with a growl. She grabbed her robe and made her way downstairs, preparing to conquer nations if that was what it took to eat whatever smelled so good.<p>

Joyce smiled as she saw Buffy stumble into the kitchen, still rubbing sleep from her eyes. "Good morning Buffy, coffee's to your left, and breakfast is almost done. Can you wait five minutes or are you about to start chewing on the counter?"

Buffy grabbed her coffee and drank deeply, savoring the life-giving caffeine. "I don't think I can last five. I'll give you three before I start pouring maple syrup on the counter." Joyce laughed as Buffy gave a rueful smile, just as her stomach growled again. "Well then I guess I'd better hustle unless I want to think up one hell of a story for the contractors. Take a seat, food is moments away."

Buffy sat down as her mother pulled a skillet from the oven with several golden-brown pastries in it, lifted most of them out onto a plate, and poured a healthy dollop of orange syrup on top from a sauce pan. She handed the heaping plate to Buffy, along with a fork and knife, and tried to suppress her giggles as Buffy attacked the food with gusto.

Halfway through the plate Buffy paused for air and looked over at her smiling mother, who had helped herself to the rest of the pastries. "Mom, this is…amazing! What is this? And why haven't you made this before?"

Joyce chuckled "It's fig and ricotta stuffed crepes with orange syrup, and I've never made it before because I found the recipe three weeks ago. I figured it would be a good homecoming meal for my prodigal daughter."

"I'd ask about the Giles-like word usage, but my stomach has decided that I need to eat the rest of this before my brain is allowed to take charge." Fitting word to action, Buffy finished off the rest of her plate and let out a satisfied sigh, patting her belly, which was still flat as a board, despite the sheer volume of food she had consumed. Wrapping her hands around her coffee mug, she looked up at her mother again.

"So, what do I have to do to get you to cook that every day? Wash the laundry? Mow the lawn? Paint the house? Discretely excuse myself to sleep over at Willow's when you find a rich and handsome man to occupy your evening? Find you a rich and handsome man to occupy your evenings? OK, I'm not really on board with those last two, but if you make this every day, I, well, I could be flexible, I guess."

Joyce laughed out loud at her daughter's antics "You'll do the laundry and mow the lawn anyhow, the house doesn't need paint, and if I find myself and rich and handsome man, I doubt I'll be able to stop you from fleeing the house screaming if I decided to put the moves on him. Don't pout, Buffy, you brought this up."

"It's not fair debating me this early in the morning when I'm still all sleepy and have only had half a cup of coffee. It's like…punching baby rabbits. You wouldn't want to hurt a poor little bunny, would you?" Buffy tried to give her mom puppy dog eyes, but as with most mothers, Joyce had become immune by the time her daughter was in her early teens.

"Anyhow, you should probably get showered and dressed. I spent a fair amount of time this summer with your friends and Rupert, and we all promised each other that we'd let the others know when you showed up. I called them about an hour ago, but said that no-one was to come over until you'd had breakfast and were ready for company." Buffy's expression suddenly changed to one of extreme apprehension. Joyce walked over and wrapped her daughter in a hug. "Sweetheart, they're your friends, and they miss you as well. Everyone was worried when you ran off, but rather than track you down and drag you back here, we decided to give you time. But you're back now, and everyone wants to see you. So, you have a choice. You can go hide in your room, and I'll send Xander to tell bad jokes at you until you give in, or you can go shower now so you're ready when they get here."

Twenty minutes later when Buffy walked back down the staircase, pulling her damp hair into a ponytail, she heard conversation coming from the living room. As she turned the corner, she saw all of her friends. Oz was sitting on the couch plucking a bass in a very mellow manner, no surprise there, with Willow sitting and fidgeting next to him, continually glancing around the room. Cordelia was speaking with her mother, somewhat to Buffy's surprise, and Xander was on the far side of the room, reading a thin book, with a large case in front of him. And Giles was sitting in an armchair, sipping his tea in a very proper British manner. Buffy stopped in the doorway and smiled, beginning to feel whole again now that her friends were here. The scene was interrupted as Willow glanced up at her before looking down, and then did a double take. She leapt to her feet with a shout of "Buffy!" before throwing herself at her. Buffy braced herself so she wasn't knocked over by the ballistic redhead, and her hearing was overwhelmed by high-speed Willow-babble. She eventually pried the euphoric hacker off with a smile so she could greet the rest of the Scoobies. Oz had put down his bass and shook her hand with a "Hey", as though it had only been yesterday that she'd last hung out with the laconic musician. Xander picked her up and twirled her around in a bear hug, giving her a chance to notice that her doughnut-loving friend seemed to have switched diets, as he'd packed on some muscle. Even Cordelia walked over and managed to say hello without a snide remark.

Finally, she turned to Giles. Her Watcher had removed his glasses during the greetings to polish them, but put them back on as he stepped towards her. They both hesitated for a moment before he wrapped his arms around her in a reassuring hug. He released her and moved her to arms length with a very British smile and suspicious wetness in his eyes. "I'm very glad you're back, Buffy." Those few words, not overly sentimental, still made her feel safer than she had in a long time. Combined with the company, she even thought it might be possible for her to be happy again.

Willow grabbed her again and dragged her to the couch, where both of the girls sat down and Oz resumed his acoustic strumming. Everyone else sat down as Willow turned to Buffy "So, um, it's great to have you back! I mean, not that we didn't have a great summer anyhow, and I'm sure that you had a great summer as well, I'm sure you did lot of interesting stuff and we want to hear all about that but we've got a lot to tell you about, what with the changes and stuff we've learned but we're not going to talk business now because you just got home, and it would make more sense for you to just ease back into things, unless you want to talk business, I mean not business business, Slayer business, except we do have some business business to talk about as well and I'm just so glad that you're back and…"

"Will! Breathe!" Buffy smiled as her best friend stopped and took a deep breath. "I'm glad to be back as well. I've missed you all."

"So, uh, Bufster, how was your summer? Hot beaches, small bikinis, tall, icy drinks, all nice normal things that don't go bump in the night?"

"More like a nice, normal boring job waitressing all summer without a hint of excitement at all, Xander. Nope, totally boring and mundane, not even a peep of supernatural-type stuff until last week when I was kidnapped by a demonic slave ring that I had to bust up and free hundreds of tormented victims. But aside from that, nice quiet boring summer. What about you guys? What did you do this summer?"

"Are you sure you're ok with us talking about slayer-y stuff right after you get back? I told everyone that there was no slayer-y talk unless you wanted it, and I put on my resolve face and everything."

"Thanks Wills, but I'm fine. Rested and ready to hear what my friends did with their summer."

"In that case…"

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><p>AN: rather than re-cap chapter one in its entirety, why don't we skip ahead about half an hour. It seems like that would make more sense than copy and pasting a whole chapter in here, especially since that chapter was only about three thousand words ago.<p>

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><p>The small welcome home party had broken down into small groups of people talking, which was good because Buffy felt overwhelmed. She runs away from her duties for the summer, and everyone prepares for her return to find ways to make her life easier? She felt unworthy of all of it, even with the reassurances that no one begrudged her the time she had taken. She'd listened to Willow break out the numbers relating to combat stress and breakdowns, but she still felt guilty for having run off. She slipped out to the porch for some fresh air, and was surprised to see Xander already leaning against the rail, drinking ginger ale, with another can next to him. He tossed her the spare as she closed the door, and gave her that half-smile that made her feel like the center of his universe.<p>

"Hey. How's the homecoming going?" She tried to force a smile, but she could tell he wasn't buying it "It's great really. I'm glad to see everyone again, and happy that you're all doing well." "And you're so overwhelmed with warm fuzzies that you snuck out here to be alone at your own welcome home gathering. I know I'm not the smartest guy out there, Buff, but you're going to have to try harder than that."

Wrapping her arms around herself, Buffy leaned against the wall. "I really am happy to see everyone again, but I feel like I let everyone down by running away. I go off and pretend to be normal while you're all working to make my life easier. I mean, even Cordy helped out! How can I face all of you with that hanging over my head?"

Xander walked over and put his arm around her. He held her like a sibling, rather than a lover, and she relaxed into the feeling. "Buffy, you spend every night going out looking for supernatural evil to fight. Sure, we all back you up, but you're the part of the group that we need to keep working, and that means there's ten times the stress on you that there is on the rest of us. And really, it was your mom that got us all organized and stuff, so you should blame her for all this." At Buffy's incredulous look, he smiled. "It's true. We were all running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Well, Oz wasn't, because, he's Oz. I'm not sure that man actually knows how to panic. Giles was doing his stiff British thing, Willow was talking a mile a minute, and Cordy was complaining that she was missing a sale, and your mom comes bombing in, shuts us all up, and hits us with this plea to hold the town together for you, and to find a way to better support you when you get back. She was all like 'My daughter is going to graduate high school and go to college, I don't care if the world is ending. So if she has to go out and fight vampires, then find a way for her to do both, or so help me I will make you regret you ever _heard _the name Summers!' Your mom's kindof badass, Buffy."

Buffy started to chuckle "Thanks Xander. That does help, actually." They stood there in silence for a minute, just enjoying the breeze and the quiet. "Hey, what's going on with Cordelia? I mean, before I left you two were all about the subtle smoochies with a simmering side of dislike, but now it's like there's this other thing between you two. Did something happen?"

Xander sighed, "Yeah, it's kindof tied to this. You know her parents never liked me, right? Well, when she went to her dad about getting the funds for Slayers Inc., he put his foot down. He wouldn't release the money to her unless she broke up with me, and didn't get involved with me again in high school. We both knew our relationship was doomed because she has always planned on moving to L.A. when she graduates, but this was the final nail in the coffin. At least she held out for a good deal. A loaded college account, a sweet coupe, and the seed money we needed. She'll be set for life even if her daddy and his money vanish off of the face of the earth. Don't sweat it, we both knew that it wasn't going to last, but I miss her anyhow."

"You miss her? Gosh Xander, I never pictured you as a masochist."

"Of course I am. I hang out with you, after all. Hey, ouch, no hitting, I bruise easily! You're just proving my point!"

Buffy laughed as Xander clowned around, he always knew how to cheer her up. After they stopped laughing, he looked at her, and there was something in his eyes, regret, or maybe fear. A cold knot of panic started to grow in her belly as he began to talk.

"Buffy, there's something I need to tell you. Something bad that I did. You may hate me after, but I shouldn't keep this from you anymore."

"What, Xander, what did you do?"

"Remember last May, when you went to confront Angelus? Willow was in the hospital, but I came along to get Giles out?" Buffy nodded silently. "Well, what I didn't tell you is that Willow was trying to curse him again, to bring his soul back. That's why she sent me to find you, to tell you what she was trying to do. But I was scared and angry, and I told you she said to kick his ass. I'm sorry, Buffy, sorrier than you'll ever know. I just didn't want you to hold back when you fought him, because he wouldn't, not with his apocalypse on the line."

"I knew."

"What?" Xander leaned forward, barely having heard Buffy's whisper.

"I knew he got his soul back. The portal had opened, and I was almost beaten, when he got this look in his eyes, a soft look that I'd seen a hundred times from him, and I knew it was Angel again, he was back, but there was no time. I kissed him, and then I stabbed him, and sent him to hell." Unlike when it had first happened, or when she'd thought about it over the summer, her admission didn't fill her with pain. Emptiness had taken its place, there was still a void in her heart, but she didn't feel like her soul died anymore. "Thank you for not telling me, Xander. Angelus would have killed me otherwise, and Angel would have still been in hell, along with the rest of us. It hurts, but you did the right thing."

"Come on Buff, what do you say we head back inside and join the rest of the group? If I keep you out here much longer I'm sure I'll be on the wrong end of a furious Willow-babble for hogging the guest of honor. And maybe you can convince G-man to play a duet with Oz? I know Oz brought his guitar along with his bass, whatdaya think?"

Buffy tried to suppress a laugh, and found she couldn't, even with the reminder of her pain. "Sure Xander, Giles is a musician? What next, Cordy is the incarnation of good, and can see the future?"

"I don't know about the good part, but have you seen her play the stock market? I don't know about you, but I'm spooked."

Buffy smiled as she went back inside to join her family.

* * *

><p>AN: I'm on a roll. Or possibly a pita. Regardless, I'm very much in the mood for writing, I just hope that you are in the mood for reading.<p>

Also, I know that Oz is a guitarist, but I'm going to assume that he's talented enough to be able to play both guitar and bass.

The breakfast that Joyce makes Buffy is a favourite of mine, and I have no problem sharing the recipe if you PM me for it. (Don't complain about my extra u in favourite, I use British English, thought I'll continue to write my stories in American, save for Giles' dialogue and internal monologue)


	4. Gearing up

Buffy the Vampire Slayer and related characters are owned by someone with much more money than me.

Buffy wrapped her hands around her coffee as though it was a lifeline. She'd had an emotional few days after getting back to Sunnydale, and still wasn't sleeping all that well. Staying up late talking to her friends after several months apart probably didn't help. She glanced at Xander with a bit of a grimace. Normally the twinkie-loving Scoobie would be staggering around this early in the morning, but today he was driving her over to Giles' house at eight in the morning without a complaint. Buffy thought it was quite unfair that Xander seemed more awake than she did, but it wasn't really worth arguing over.

"So, Xand-man, where did you get this car? I haven't seen this much Detroit steel in one place outside of a movie."

"My uncle Randy gave it to me. He owns a used car lot, and restores classics as a hobby. He can't sell this one as a classic 'cause he replaced the engine and installed airbags, but it's still a fine automobile, and just the right size to get doughnuts at the drive-through."

"He just GAVE it to you? Nice to have a generous uncle."

Xander rolled his shoulders uncomfortably "Well, he gave it to me on the condition that I pick him up from the drunk tank when he's there."

"He's in the drunk tank often enough that's it worth giving you a car?"

"I have to bail him out twice a week."

"…it's a very nice car. Spacious, with comfy seats."

"You think it's nice up front, you should see the back seat."

Buffy gave Xander the look she had perfected over the two-year course of their friendship. The look that said 'Excuse me? _What_ did you just say?'

"Not that I'm trying to get you in the back seat. I mean, not that I don't want to, but…I mean…can we continue this conversation after I die of embarrassment please?"

"From what I understand of conversations, I think it would be a pretty boring one if you were dead."

"I'm going to sit here in silence and pretend I didn't say anything until I can prove that I didn't mean what you think I meant."

"Well, Xander, I'll respect your choices. But I'm not promising not to giggle at them."

Pulling into Giles' driveway, Xander got out of the car and opened the back door. Buffy smiled at him "I'm sure you have some very comfortable back seats, but is right in front of Giles' house the right place to demonstrate?"

Xander blushed again, and knelt down. He reached over and triggered a hidden latch, causing the back seats to spring up an inch. Looking Buffy square in the eye, he lifted the seat, revealing a weapons cache "Even Sunnydale cops will get suspicious of swords and crossbows in the trunk. Me, Willow and Oz modified the back seat to put a hidden storage space in here. Of course, the downside is the seats are somewhat…less comfortable." Xander wiggled his eyebrows with the last statement, causing Buffy to giggle. He closed the hatch, and the two teens walked over to the front door.

Once Giles let them inside, it was evident that they were the last to arrive. Xander put down the doughnuts on the small space left for them on the table, as the rest was taken up with paperwork and weapons. Stealing one of the jelly-filled, he sprawled on the couch. Giles looked at him with a disapproving stare, but the teenager had grown accustomed to it, and barely straightened up.

"Yes, well. G-Good morning Buffy. As we discussed yesterday, we have come up with a number of different ways to help you with your activities as the Slayer. I'm going to let Willow take the lead discussing them, as most of them involve technology in some way, shape or form, and you know my feelings about that."

"Yeah, almost like a vampire with crosses."

The dirty look that Giles gave Xander this time must have carried more force, as the younger man straightened up in his seat and cast his eyes down.

Willow stood up, and went over to the piles of paperwork first "Well, first, we have a Slayer fund. We've used it to buy some cell phones, some walkie-talkies, a few weapons, and body armor for when you have planned Slaying time. We have the paperwork to, um, put you on the account, but there are some conditions." Willow dropped her eyes from Buffy's momentarily, and then continued "Um, thanks to Cordelia's investment in the fund, and some of her insight into finance, we've managed to grow the fund to over half a million dollars, though some of that has been spent or invested in the safe house."

"W-wait just a moment. H-half a million? When we spoke in mid-August, it was scarcely half of that. How on earth did you manage to grow the fund so quickly?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes at this "Um, hello? Have you not been paying attention to the stock market? The Russian crash?" Everyone gave her blank looks, save for Willow, who had been assisting her. "One of the first things I said when we created this fund is you'll never go broke betting against the Ruble. So when the Russian markets dropped in August, we cleaned up."

Most of the room looked shocked at the brunette's financial insights, but Willow managed to get the conversation back on topic.

"Um, because Cordelia's investment is only until June when she graduates, we can't drop the fund below two hundred thousand. A-and Buffy? The condition that your mom, Giles and Cordy all agreed to was if you get signing powers on the account, you, um, aren't allowed to use it for clothing or shoes."

"WHAT? You're telling me that I have access to an account with hundreds of thousands of dollars in it, and I can buy even ONE pair of shoes? That's completely unfair! What if I have a shoe-related emergency? Or there's a fashion demon? There has to be a clause that accounts for that?"

Xander sighed and handed Cordelia a ten-dollar bill he dug out of his pocket.

"Told you she'd freak out over the shoes first."

"Yeah, yeah. You're the queen, you know best. Shut up." Xander said sulkily as Cordelia smiled victoriously.

Before Buffy could berate her friends for betting on her, Willow tried to steer the conversation back to the topic at hand "W-well there is a refreshment fund that goes towards getting drinks and stuff at the Bronze, and coffee, and doughnuts and things, oh, and if you need a late night snack after Slaying or-or"

Buffy cut her friend off "Wait, you mean I can't buy shoes, but I can go out clubbing? Color me confused."

Giles sighed, and started to polish his glasses before continuing "Buffy, as you know you're one of the longest-lived Slayers in history. Most Slayers die in action in the first eight months, with a year and a half being considered exceptional. You've been the Slayer for almost three years, two of those on an active Hellmouth. The Watcher's council has never done a study on the long-term psychological effects that fight evil on an almost daily basis has. Rather than have you burn out, we decided that if you were able to have some semblance of a normal life, including school, a-and listening to that infernal noise you call music at the Bronze, and what have you, you'll be more able to cope with your calling. So, yes, we have earmarked funds for leisure activities." Pausing, he gave Buffy a soft look. "We do care for you, after all."

Buffy felt tears start to form in her eyes from the care and consideration her friends were giving her.

"Yeah, and anyhow, we'd have to rob a bank to keep you in shoes."

Nope, moment's gone, thanks to Xander, who ended up on the receiving end of a roomful of dirty looks from the ladies, and an amused one from Oz. Giles had turned away to polish his glasses again, but Xander could tell he was trying not to laugh.

"Xander! Stop interrupting! Don't make me use my resolve face on you! I'm trying to explain everything to Buffy!"

Xander held up his hands in surrender, and Willow resumed "So, Cordy and I will walk you through the paperwork later. We've also come up with some new weapons for you, as well as body armor. T-the armor for you is upstairs in the guest bedroom, so you should try it on later, but first we've got new toys!" Willow seemed quite excited about the array of weaponry on the table, so Buffy wandered over.

"Um, Willow, are those guns? 'Cause bullets don't kill vampires."

"No, b-but Xander argued that shooting one in the head or the knee will slow them down, and give you time to finish them off, or give someone who's less good with the jumping and fighting stuff to finish one off. We've tried it a few times, a-and it works pretty good. We, um, haven't used the shotgun yet, because it's really noisy, a-and Giles said you can't take a gun out with you on patrol until Xander's checked that you know how to use it properly."

"Until XANDER's checked? When did Xander become Charlton Heston?"

"Last Hallowe'en and again over the summer. The soldier memories kind of stuck around, as you know, and they were reinforced by my stay at Pendleton this summer."

"I thought you went there for medical training?"

"Yeah, but that's the thing about the military. They don't let you so much as file paperwork unless you can hit a target three times out of five."

"Hey! Resolve face! Focus! O-ok, so we've got more gun-type things that you can use right away. Paintball guns with holy water and liquid garlic paintballs, they're ok, but more to slow down vampires, mechanical water guns with holy water, they're pretty good, but only for about thirty feet, and the batteries need charging every day after using them, we've got some wooden throwing knives, and gloves with silver crosses on them for that, um, extra oompf, I guess? Xander says that he has more guns and heavier stuff hidden away, but we don't have them here because they're kind of illegal."

"Ok, what's heavier stuff, and how illegal is kind of illegal?"

"Um, well, you know how you took out the Judge? That kind of heavier stuff. A-and so long as we don't get caught with it, does it really matter how illegal?"

"So, illegal enough that we don't want to get caught with it is what 'kind of illegal' means."

"Yeah, pretty much. Oh, and Buffy, we have your emergency backup kit as well!"

"My emergency backup kit? What's that Wills?"

Willow pulls out a can of mace, a suspiciously familiar purse, and a ring.

"This is! T-the mace is holy water, and there's a cross on it so you remember, the purse has a stake hidden in the bottom that you can pull out like this, and the ring has crosses on it, like the gloves."

"Is that one of my purses? Did you cut up one of my purses? Why did you cut up one of my purses?" Buffy wailed.

"I-it was Xander's idea!"

"Willow helped!"

"Your mom gave us the purse!"

"We're sorry!"

"Ahem." Giles cleared his throat. "Yes, Buffy, they did mildly mangle one of your many purses, at my request, in the hopes that you'll never be unarmed or endangered due to lack of weaponry. The damage is unnoticeable, at least according to Miss Chase, who verified the purse after the modifications were done and said is passed muster."

"Actually I said that for a Ferragamo knock-off, it looks almost decent, but sure, whatever."

Buffy favored Cordelia with a dirty look before giving the shaking Willow a hug. "Thanks Wills, I do appreciate it. I'm sorry I was all shouty."

"I-it's ok. Oh, and we got you a cell phone! It's got all our numbers programmed in, so you can call us, and we also have walkie-talkies with earpieces for when you patrol! Aren't they neat?"

Buffy examined the earpieces. They were attached to the radios by a wire, and looked lightweight enough not to bother her when fighting. She nodded, deciding it was worth trying.

"This all looks pretty good. You guys have put a lot of work into thinking about this, thanks."

"W-well, we wanted to keep you safe, even though it's your job to keep us safe, so we're kind of keeping each other safe at the same time? I guess. Anyhow, you should try on the body armor."

"I dunno Wills, I'm not really an armor kind of girl. I prefer designer label and all that."

"Well, Bufster, you should at least give this armor a try. It's lightly padded, to make those impacts with trees and gravestones less painful, as well as reducing punching impact, it has plastic chainmail mesh wedged between layers to protect from stabby things and claws, it has high-impact plastic plates to cover the vital areas of the body, and it should be flexible enough for you to turn cartwheels and do high kicks in. Most importantly is the neck guard, to prevent unfriendly biting. Your suit only weighs eight pounds, and is small enough to fit under jeans and a jacket, if they're a size or so too big."

"Well, I do hate getting stabbed, and getting thrown into trees is not as much fun as you'd think. I'll give it a shot."

"I-I should probably help you get into it, at least the first time. It's kind of tricky."

"You've got armor, Wills?"

The redhead blushed "no, but, um, I've helped Oz…"

Buffy didn't understand why everyone else was trying not to laugh or looking away. She grabbed her best friend and dragged her upstairs to save her from her near-terminal blush. When she saw the armor, she understood.

"That's not going to fit over clothing. Willow, does that fit over any clothing? At all? Did Xander choose this armor?"

"There's, um, there's a bodysuit to put on first, because the armor is hard to wash. And Xander did choose it, but it really is good armor, I checked! He's not being perverted! Well, no more than usual, I guess. And-and he and Oz wear the same stuff. And, I'm going to stop talking now."

Buffy came back down the stairs about fifteen minutes later, feeling somewhat strange in the armor, but realizing that Xander's promises about it being light and flexible were true. Before heading down the stairs, she had tried doing a vertical split kick, and found her mobility was only slightly impaired. Buffy figured she try it out on patrol, see how it worked before casting judgment.

In the living room, Xander was talking to Cordelia, while eating another of the jelly doughnuts, Giles was reading, and Oz had produced his bass from somewhere and was strumming quietly. Buffy cleared her throat as she walked back into the room, drawing all eyes to her. Cordelia smirked at her, seeing Buffy in a very unfashionable outfit was amusing to the brunette, Oz raised an eyebrow without missing a note, Giles took off his glasses, and Xander's eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets. The bodysuit was skintight, to prevent chafing and keep the armor in the right place, and Buffy had to admit she felt kind of exposed wearing it. She knew that she wouldn't be able to bring herself to wear this outside without camouflage over top, but some of her older jeans would probably fit, along with a turtleneck to cover the throat armor.

"Xander, pull your eyes back in their sockets. No staring!"

Xander closed and covered his eyes, forgetting he was still holding a doughnut, and ended up with jelly on his face. After sharing a laugh, Buffy turned to Willow.

"Ok smart girl, what's next?"

"Well, we've got a patrol rotation so you get one night off in three, we've got paperwork for you to sign, you can go out patrolling tonight, and tomorrow school starts up again!"

At that last statement, Buffy let out a groan.

AN: The Russian Stock market actually did take a dive on August 17th of 1998 when the government defaulted. Also, I have no idea if Ferragamo is a good brand, but it sounds like one, and came up in a Google search. Please feel free to provide feedback, both good and bad, on the story. Flames will be laughed at and criticized for spelling and grammar.


	5. A night off?

Willow sat next to her best female friend at the Bronze, looking at the bemused expression on Buffy's face. Willow had to admit that she should have expected this after the half-week she'd been through. Not only did Joyce and Giles get everything fixed up at school, providing Buffy passed her exams that she skipped out on last spring, but she'd been out patrolling twice, and tonight was her night off. The concept of a night off from patrolling was a new one, and that alone would likely have caused confusion, but the patrols of the two previous nights likely had something to do with her blond friend's state of mind. When Buffy had patrolled before, she'd just wandered around graveyards with whoever felt like walking with her, and it had been a somewhat haphazard affair. No plans, no structure, almost like a social gathering, late at night, in a graveyard. Now either Xander or Oz drove the group out, they wore armor and carried a small arsenal, had radios and cell phones, and actually had a schedule of who was slaying and when. Not to mention back-up. Giles, Xander or Willow would listen in to the radio chatter of those who were out taking care of the Sunnydale night-unlife, and if they were overwhelmed or found a nest, they could rally the rest of the troops and be there to help. That, combined with a tactical plan must have had poor Buffy's head spinning. Willow smiled as she remembered the briefing.

Buffy was surprised to see Oz, Cordelia and Giles sitting in the living room with her mother when she walked downstairs after putting on her armor to patrol. She'd forgotten that the Scoobies were organized now, even after Willow had shown up to help stuff her into her fancy suit, and veto the Slayer running around in three inch heels. Buffy had tried to make her case, but Willow shot her down without a second thought. So, wearing a pair of sensible boots, Buffy walked into the living room followed by a bubbly Willow. Everyone looked up, and Giles cleared his throat.

"Ah, yes, I'm glad y-you're prepared, Buffy. Since you haven't been patrolling with the rest of us since we, well, began to think things through a little more thoroughly, I felt it best to give you an overview of the tactical process we have been working under to best assure the safety not only of ourselves, but also of the good people of our municipality."

Buffy let a small frown grace her face as she turned to Willow with a puzzled look.

"He's gonna tell you how we do things now."

Turning back to Giles with a smile, Buffy nodded her head for him to continue, which he did, with a slightly exasperated look.

"We have divided our forces based upon the roles we fill in a strategic manner, and deploy a full compliment to best overcome the threats we would face without suffering casualties."

Another frown and puzzled look.

"Different people do different stuff, so we set up to make the most of it."

Smile. Nod. Mild exasperation.

"Any patrol that you take part of will consist of a primary attacker, a secondary attacker, and at least one extra supporting individual, to cover all ranges of combat and best prepare for any contingencies that may arise."

This time when Buffy looked over at Willow, there was an audible giggle that was quickly suppressed, and a sigh from a certain tweed-wearing individual who wondered why he was saddled with these hopeless colonials.

"When you patrol there's gonna be you, who makes with the slayage, Xander or Oz who both have armor to watch your back in close and do some minor slayage of their own, and one of me, Giles or Cordy, who will carry the first aid kit and a crossbow, try to stay out of the way, and pick off nasties from a safe-ish distance."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place, Giles?"

This time the laughter was less suppressed, and the Englishman removed his glasses to polish them, muttering dark thoughts of teenagers and their use of language.

"Yes. Quite. Tonight you'll patrol with Oz and Cordelia, tomorrow with Xander and Willow, and on Wednesday, you'll have the evening off with Willow as the rest of us go out. Now, do you have any other questions or inane remarks you wish to make before going forth to complete your sacred duty?" Though his tone was harsh, the sparkle in his eye let them know that Giles was pretending to be put upon to re-establish some of the patterns that Buffy had grown used to before the whole fallout with Angelus and running away for the summer.

Smiling a genuine smile at her Watcher, Buffy shook her head "Nope, no inane-ish comments here. I slay, Oz backs me, and Cordy plays Wilhelmina Tell."

"Actually, I prefer the water gun. And not being referred to as being an overweight German." Cordelia smiled afterwards, taking most of the sting out of her retort.

Both patrol nights had gone well. They only encountered four vampires all night on Monday, two singles and a pair, and Buffy managed to prove to herself that she still had the moves. Cordy did manage to hose down the undead, leaving them vulnerable to Buffy's counter-attack, and Oz tied up the one he faced with no apparent effort, staying on the defensive until Buffy finished her vampire off and snuck in a staking. After they were done, they piled into his van and Oz drove the girls home, after calling Giles to let him know they were fine. Tuesday's patrol found the original Scoobies together again, and although they ran into a group of six vampires, they still came through unharmed, thanks to Xander's quick trigger finger on his paintball gun, and Willow's strategic use of her holy water-pistol. Normally Buffy would have been stressing out over her friends patrolling without her, but after seeing how well they worked together with the new toys, she was actually able to relax and kind of enjoy herself at the Bronze. She still had a few things on her mind that stopped her from being in the moment, however.

Willow decided to try and snap her friend out of her funk "Buffy, if you don't stop staring at the wall, I'll start tickling you."

"Mm-hm, ok Will."

Shrugging, the redhead followed up on her promise, which lead to a yelp from the diminutive blond. "Willow! Why did you do that?"

"I told you I would if you didn't snap out of it, and you didn't object, so…"

"Willow! That is totally unfair! And unreasonable! And…un-something else! You know I hate being tickled!"

"It got your attention, didn't it?"

Buffy looked over at Willow and sighed. She really should have been paying attention to her friend and enjoying herself. She suddenly felt guilty, and let it show on her face.

"Oh Buffy, don't take it like that. Just, y'know, share. That's what best friends are for, right?"

The Slayer tried a smile "Thanks Will. I just feel, I don't know, overwhelmed. I'm still trying to cope with last spring, and I get back here, hoping to find something normal that I'm used to, and you've all got these plans, and these new strategies, and, well, I guess I feel lost, like you don't need me."

"Oh Buffy, that's not it at all. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. We made all of these plans and stuff because of you, to help you, not to get rid of you. Joyce and Xander really pushed to get you backup, and get training and gear so we could be effective." Willow drew her friend into a brief hug before continuing. "But that's not all, is it? Something else is bothering you. Come on, spill."

Buffy sighed. She knew she had to talk about it, but she wasn't comfortable bringing this up. She also knew that Willow was not about to let her go on this point.

"It's…Xander. I was fine with everything until I patrolled with him…

After patrol on Monday, Buffy thought she knew what to expect. Oz had been even quieter than usual, a by-product of the meditation he needed to hold onto his werewolf abilities and not lose control, and when it came to a fight he demonstrated speed and strength enough to hold off a vampire without any sign of strain, and fought defensively to keep the wolf in check, so she expected the same from Xander. And initially, it had been as she expected. She and Willow had been chatting as friends do, with Xander interjecting the occasional comment when Xander suddenly stopped and held up his hand, leveling his paintball gun. The three of them slowly advanced to see six vampires tossing a crypt, apparently looking for something. Buffy tensed up, feeling the Slayer spirit awake inside her at the sight of her mortal enemies. She could hear Willow call Giles and inform him of the situation when Xander spoke in low tones.

"We can take them. Wills and I will hose them down, I'll drop the gun and Buffy and I will close and take them while stunned, as Willow keeps them off balance with her water gun."

Buffy looked at her Xander-shaped friend, about to admonish him for being careless, but stopped when she saw his eyes. They glowed yellow, as they had when the primal spirit had possessed him, and the expression on his face was not hatred or eagerness. It was the readiness of a predator, a look she knew she wore as well. Shaking off a shiver, she took a deep breath to calm herself, and nodded. Two guns came up, and the soft puff of compressed CO2 was accompanied by the hiss of moving liquid as two different methods of holy water delivery were put into use. Screams of agony came from their targets as Xander dropped his gun and he and Buffy charged into the fray. Buffy staked two in as many breaths and fell into a defensive stance to face off the rest when she saw Xander.

He'd avoided pulling a stake, and was swinging an axe with a fair amount of skill and ruthlessness. One vampire was on the ground, cut hip to shoulder, a second clutching his torn leg, and Xander was squared off against a third, having just caught a punch on his shoulder. Rather than roll away from it, he let out a forceful yip, and slammed the vampire in the face with his axe. Several times, until it finally turned to ash. Willow's yell broke Buffy out of her trance, and she finished off the three wounded, including the one that had almost melted under Willow's constant water gun attacks. She looked over at Xander, who was visibly struggling to rein himself in until Willow came over and placed her hand on his shoulder, speaking quietly to him. He immediately relaxed, took a few deep breaths, and rolled his injured shoulder, making sure he didn't have more than a bruise. He smiled, and look back at Buffy, his eyes back to their normal chocolate brown.

"…when he lost control like that, it scared me. I don't want my Xander-shaped friend to become one of the creatures that killed principal Flutie, and, and tried to, to…" Buffy trailed off, unable to talk about the time Xander, possessed by the primal spirit, tried to rape her. She had pushed it from her mind, and had decided that the creature that had tried to assault her that night wearing her friends face wasn't Xander, using the same rational that she had later used against Angelus when she fought him as he tried to awaken Alcatha.

Willow took a few moments to follow Buffy's train of thought, and remembered her experiences with the primal possessed Xander, and how he had made her feel weak and useless. She hugged Buffy again, and looked for the words she needed to explain how they could let him try and call up the primal spirit that had caused so much pain.

"Buffy, you know I'm research girl, right? And that I always make sure that I know what I'm doing when it comes to my friends' safety? Well, after Oz found the meditations that helped him get his wolf under control, and Xander heard about it, I talked with Giles and we decided that it was too dangerous to let him do something like that, considering what had happened last time, but we also knew that trying to stop Xander when he was determined to do something was impossible. So we looked for an alternative. And eventually we decided to re-do the ritual to bind a primal spirit to him."

"What? Willow, what were you thinking? After all the damage that happened the last time, you went and invited one in? Have you and Giles lost your minds?"

"Buffy, Buffy, sssshhhh, it's ok, just, give me a-a second, and I-I can explain, really! I know i-it sounds bad, but we, we did think about that. One of the first things I did was read up on hyenas, and it turns out that the behavior Xander and the rest of them showed wasn't hyena-like at all."

"Um, I'm pretty sure it was. Hanging around in a pack, aggression, laughing, eating live animals, sounds right to me."

"It sounds right because that's what we think of when we think of hyenas. The zookeeper had corrupted the ritual, and instead of binding hyena spirits to them, he'd bound the modern concept of hyenas to them. So since everyone thinks that hyenas are aggressive pack scavengers who laugh constantly, that's how they acted. But real hyenas aren't like that, so to undo the damage, we re-did the ritual, on a lower scale, giving him some of the strengths and characteristics of real hyenas, and blocking out any possible side effects of the corrupted ritual. He still needs to use the meditation to call it up and control it, but he's not dangerous to us."

"How can you be sure, Willow? He almost lost control last night! I don't want to have to fight Xander! Not after…"

Willow could tell that Buffy was on the verge of tears, worried that she would have to kill her best male friend just as she'd had to kill her lover, and brought her close to calm her.

"I-it's ok Buffy. I promise. Research girl, remember? All the reading I did on hyenas told me that we'd be perfectly safe. They're strongly social animals, and so even if he lost control, he'd never attack any of us, because he'll see us as pack. A-and as for the, um, other thing? That's not going to happen either. It turns out hyenas are matriarchal, and the strongest female runs the pack. If he does get lost in the primal spirit, he'll try for your attention, but he'll also do what you say. That's how I calmed him down. His primal spirit obeys women who are pack. A-and since there are more girls than boys in the Scoobies, it just made sense to give him the traits of an animal that will, um, will listen to us."

"So, the real reason that the primal spirits caused all the problems last year were because the stupid zookeeper didn't know what he was doing?"

"Well, having a pack of hyenas roaming around town wouldn't have been fun, as they are wild animals, but if the ritual had been done properly, then they would have been stealing pets and breaking into butchers', not attacking people. And we didn't give him the full possession this time, because, well, possession bad."

"Yes, possession bad. You're sure he'll be ok?" Buffy looked at her best female friend a little tentatively, hoping for more re-assurance. She wasn't sure how she felt about putting her friends on the front lines, but realized that she really had no choice. They had put this together, raised the money, bought the armor and the weapons, trained, and spent hours figuring out schedules and maps to protect people, not just the ignorant masses of Sunnydale, but her, and each other. If she told them to stop, they'd keep patrolling and fighting, but do it without her, putting everyone in more danger.

"Yes, Buffy, Xander will be fine. He's a-a little, um, intense when he fights, but he's still our Xander-shaped friend, still brings the doughnuts to meetings, and still watches funny movies with me when I'm feeling down. He-he's, well, just more focused."

"Xander watches funny movies with you to cheer you up? What does Oz do then?" Buffy managed a wry grin to go with her question, and was rewarded with a tomato-red Willow. "Or should I not ask?"

Willow stuttered for a few seconds, still blushing furiously, as she tried to find an appropriate change of topic to stop the teasing.

"Oh! Oz! Um, Oz still needs three nights every month off, for the full moon. He can't go patrolling then."

"Wait, I thought you said he had this nifty meditation and spell thing that gave him control over the change?"

"He does! You saw him, he didn't go furry or anything in the fights, right? But it's not perfect. He can channel some of the strengths of a wolf, or prevent a change, but he can't do both at once. A-and, um, too much of strong emotions, like fear or anger, things you find in a fight, can break his control on the full moon."

Buffy was about to comment about the strong emotions when she saw the door open, and looked up to see her friends walking through the door. She smiled and waved them over, her brows wrinkling when she didn't see Giles. Xander and Oz both looked stockier than normal, a side effect of the armor, and Cordelia looked peeved to arrive in her less-than-trendy slaying outfit. As Oz grabbed a round of drinks, Xander collapsed next to the Slayer and the redhead.

"The valorous heroes return triumphant! Or at least your slay-buddies are here after a boring night of walking around in the dark for a few hours. We could have phoned this one in, not a peep from the fangy bunch tonight. Giles asked to be dropped off at home to be spared the 'horrendous noise you lot call music', but says hi, or something similar, but more British."

Buffy smiled, and accepted a diet cola from Oz as he returned. All of her friends were here, and safe.

"Looks like you spoke too soon, dumbass. Eyes up, look at the skank with the fashion reject on the dance floor."

At Cordelia's comment, everyone turned and looked to see a brunette knockout wearing tight, revealing clothing tearing up the dance floor with a man who seemed to be convinced that polyester and bell-bottoms were still hip. A slap from Cordy pulled Xander's eyes back into his face, and he tried to wipe the drool off his jaw subtly, failing, of course. Before anyone could approach her and warn her off, she was heading to the door with the likely vampire, and out of the club.

"Well, looks like I get to stretch my muscles anyhow tonight. Let's go."

Buffy led the Scoobies out after the brunette, hoping that they would be in time. As they cleared the back door, they heard sounds of fighting, and rushed out to find…the brunette tossing the vampire against a wall like a handball. She looked over at the obviously stunned Scoobies and smiled.

"It's ok, I got it." she said, backhanding the undead. "You're, ah, Buffy, right?" The vampire, trying to sneak up on the new girl was rewarded with a reverse head-butt, knocking him back again. "I'm Faith."

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer in town." The laconic guitarist stated, as Faith continued to toss the vampire around the alley. She threw the vampire to the ground again, and turned to Buffy, snatching the stake from her hand saying, "can I borrow that?" Seconds later, the undead was dust, and Faith handed the stake back to the blond Slayer.

"Thanks B, couldn't have done it without you."

AN: the information I've included on hyenas is accurate (they really weren't portrayed terribly well on the show), as, like Willow, I am research girl. Or something like it.

Happy New Year, y'all.


	6. Awkward car ride

The characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog are owned by Joss Whedon. I'm not using most of them, but he owns them anyway.

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><p>Xander was sitting uncomfortably in the driver's seat as his car cruised along the darkened streets of Sunnydale. He was feeling uncomfortable due to the stunning, yet foul-mouthed brunette riding shotgun who seemed to think that innuendo was as essential as breathing. Normally, Xander would rally to such a challenge, having traded barbs with the best of them, but in this case, he was out of his depth. Insults and jokes were his strength, not flirting, and he felt more than a little out of place, as though Faith was going to suddenly lose her temper and throw him through the windshield. Her unsettling combination of directness and distrust wasn't helping either.<p>

After her dramatic introduction to the group, everyone went inside the Bronze for introductions and small talk. It turned out that Faith had quite the repertoire of risqué stories, which resulted in Xander getting slapped by Cordelia several times, and led to him squirming uncomfortably in the car now. As conversation moved on, Faith was asked what she was doing in town, and where she was staying. She answered that she stopped by to meet Buffy while her Watcher was at a retreat in merry old, and that she was camped out at the Sunnydale motor lodge. There was a quiet pause of indrawn breath at that point, and from Xander's point of view, this was where the trouble started.

* * *

><p>"Um, Faith? Did you say the Motor Lodge? In the south end?" Willow's question was tentative, as she was obviously trying to avoid upsetting the possibly volatile brunette. Faith turned and looked at the red head, anger clearly building.<p>

"Yeah, what of it? It's not like my travel budget can afford the Ritz, y'know."

Willow turned a helpless look to Oz and then Xander, which only served to fuel Faith's anger.

"So what? Does it not meet your suburban, yuppie, standards, huh? I came here to Sunnydale to meet Buffy, the only girl in the world like me, not to have her friends look at me like I'm trash. So if you don't like it, then I'm…"

"FAITH!" Xander shouted, breaking through her rant and stopping her as she was half out of her seat. She re-directed her glare at him and was about to speak when he continued.

"Willow wasn't trying to insult you. But it's not safe to stay at the Motor Lodge."

"Hey, X, in case you didn't notice? I'm the Slayer, like your girl B here, not some helpless kid. I can handle myself against drug dealers and scum, y'know?"

"Again, not what I'm trying to say. Any hotel isn't safe, because it doesn't have threshold protection to keep out Vampires."

"Seriously? When did you find that out, Xander?" the senior Slayer spoke up, curious as to how her research-avoiding friend managed to pick up something as subtle as that.

"Well, um, Buffy, when we were setting up the safe-house, Giles told us that someone had to move it, or it would be useless as protection, because you have to live somewhere in order to give a place a threshold. A-and since you only rent hotel rooms, they, um, never get that." Willow responded, reassuring Buffy that all was right in the world, since it was Willow who had the answers.

"Oh. Well. Um. Shit. I feel kind of stupid now. Sorry 'bout that, y'know? I just get a little sensitive about a few things." Faith looked around at the Scoobies, clearly embarrassed. Cordelia opened her mouth to respond, but stopped when Xander put his hand on her arm, though she did shoot him a dirty look.

"So, if I can't stay at the hotel, anyone got a couch I can borrow for a few? Have to admit, I'm not looking to become some Vamp's pre-morning snack when I crash out and all."

"We have a safe house for this very reason. Xander will drive you over to your…room to grab your stuff, and then let you in, since he's the caretaker there, as well as the only resident, so far. It's an old boarding house that we bought for a song and re-furnished." Cordelia looked a little sour as she relayed the news, but no-one objected.

* * *

><p>That led to now. Xander had driven Faith over to her room and waited as she got her stuff, trying not to look when the obvious prostitute took a guy back to her room, only two over from Faith. He was blushing bright red when the brunette slayer opened her door to leave, but managed to get it under control by the time she got back to the car.<p>

"So, X, you gonna take me over to your pad and get pelvic?" Xander jammed the ignition as Faith slid into the car, taking a few more seconds to calm down and start it back up as Faith laughed at him. Xander considered tossing Faith a dirty look, but the last time he did that, she pushed her cleavage out, and he nearly crashed the car, so he contented himself with muttering darkly and getting into second gear.

Xander was glad ten minutes later when he slid into the driveway of the old boarding house that he, Giles and Mrs. Summers had picked out as the safe house. He'd turned one of the larger bedrooms into a den with a TV, the living room had been converted into a gym, and the basement held weapons storage and the workroom where he did maintenance for the tools of their trade, including the laborious task of removing paint from paintballs and replacing it with holy water, a job aided by a large-gauge hypodermic. The roomy kitchen was vintage 1950's but everything was in good repair and worked well, and there were five rooms with beds, with the master bedroom having been converted into a backup library. The house would have been well outside of their price range in any sane city, but the fact that there had been almost a dozen brutal murders in the house since the Korean War really drove down the price. Giles, Willow and Cordelia had spent a very boring, but productive week during the summer exorcizing the spirit that had been trapped, and Xander moved in for good after he was finished training at Pendleton. All five of the rooms had been furnished with a bed, desk, chair and lamp, but the rest of the furniture was somewhat eclectic. Xander's room had metal shelving for his clothes that wouldn't have looked out of place in a garage, while one of the other rooms had a restored mahogany dresser they'd found in the basement.

Xander was well aware that he was about to invite a very desirable woman into his home, if not his bed, and the thought made him more than a little nervous. This was made worse by the fact that Faith had not only been flirting the entire car ride both to her hotel room and back, but that as she walked towards the door, she had put a deliberate roll into her step that made it impossible for Xander to look anywhere aside from her frankly magnificent posterior. He knew that if a legion of screaming vampires jumped out at him that second, he'd stand there staring as they tore him to pieces, and he wasn't sure if he'd even notice.

Of course, the one thing that really made him nervous was that before they'd headed out, Cordy had grabbed him and pulled him aside. She'd given him a furious look and said, "Listen, geek. I know we're broken up, but I swear to all that's holy, if you come into school tomorrow with a sly smile on your face, or give me even a hint that you slept with her, and I will make you wish that Angelus finished what he started when he broke your arm! Do you hear me, mister?"

Xander had nodded frantically, and swore that only he could get trapped between two beautiful brunettes and still be a luckless fool. He shook his head and shouldered two duffels, one full of weapons, and the other of Faith's things, and headed to where an amused Faith was waiting by the door. His hands trembled slightly when he opened the door, but he managed, and struggled inside with his burden.

"So, X, gonna give me the tour? Show me around? I'm sure there's lots of interesting things here. Workbenches, showers, bedrooms…"

Faith left her statement hanging, an obvious invitation, and Xander summoned all his willpower with his response.

"Actually, I have to dump the weapons out, so we're heading to the basement first, I'll give you the nickel tour, and then I'm beat. Patrol wasn't too hard tonight, but wearing armor in this heat wears me out. If you'd give me a hand with the bag? Normally I'd be chivalrous, but I'm tired, and you're the Slayer, and therefore much stronger than me."

Looking a little surprised at Xander's brush-off, Faith shrugged and helped him carry the weapons to the basement and store them, before he showed her around, dropping her bags off in her room before giving her the run of the freezer to deal with at least one of her two H's. He dragged himself up to his room, pulled off and hung up the armor, tossed the undergarments in the wash and almost fell into the shower. The ritual and meditations he went through to control the Primal spirit were great, but there was definitely a crash at then end.

After his (cold) shower, he staggered to his bed and immediately fell asleep.

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><p>AN: I admit I'm uncertain about Faith's characterization, but I figured she'd be off-balance, and would have tried to re-establish familiar patterns.<p>

As always, please review, say what you like, love and hate. Flames are useful, since I'm trying to reduce my heating bills


	7. Bean bag therapy and boxing stories

Someone aside from me, probably Joss Whedon, owns the characters from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. No-one owns zombies, aside from Simon Pegg, because they make terrible pets.

This chapter contains coarse language, but no scenes of violence, nudity, torture, or other adult subject matter, so I'm keeping the rating at "T" for now.

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><p>Buffy felt nervous as she approached the music room after class on Friday. She'd already had two sessions, but they made her nervous. She hesitated as she reached for the door knob, but finally managed to just push past her apprehension and open the door.<p>

From inside the soundproof room came the sound of very mellow R&B, played by the Scoobie musician on the bass. Oz looked up as she walked in and nodded, but didn't stop strumming his acoustic. Buffy took a deep breath, inhaling the scent of brass, sweat and patchouli, walked over to the beanbag chair and inelegantly dropped into it. She turned a defiant glare at Oz, and he stopped his playing to turn and look at her with a raised eyebrow.

Buffy held his gaze for all of five seconds before crumbling. "I-it's just that, well, I don't like talking about my feelings and stuff. And I don't like psychiatrists! Because they lock me up! Which was totally unfair, because I'd just saved everyone from Lothos, even if I did burn down the gym to do it!"

Buffy leaped up and started pacing the floor at this point. "I mean, people always talk about your screw ups, right? But what about my successes? Luke, Darla, the Master, the Judge, that creepy Zookeeper, I've stopped some pretty horrendous big bads, and a ton of smaller ones in between, I should get credit for that, right? I mean, sure, I had help, but I was in the front, risking my life! Do I get a thank you for any of it?"

"Thank you."

Buffy stumbled, and lost track of her rant, looking at Oz as though she had forgotten he was in the room. Her mouth dropped open, so much was the shock of his interruption.

"I know you don't like shrinks. I'm not one. And I won't think you're crazy if you talk about vampires, considering I'm a werewolf. And you have done some amazing things, and fought and killed some terrifying evil. That's what I wanted to talk about."

Buffy continued her impersonation of a goldfish for a few seconds before going back to the beanbag chair and sitting down.

Oz resumed playing his bass, switching from mellow R&B to something almost classical. It was slow, and just hovered at the edge of her mind, bleeding off some of her tension.

"Slaying? Stressful. Secrets? Stressful. Boyfriend trys to destroy the world? Beyond stressful. You aren't here because you're in trouble. You're here to deal with stress."

Buffy nodded slowly and he continued. "Talk. About anything. I won't tell anyone, even Willow or Giles what you say. I won't judge. I'll listen, and when you're done, give you some advice. That's it."

Buffy took a deep breath. She did feel wound up inside, like her guts were tied in knots. She wondered if this would help.

"Ok. Do you know about the incident at the zoo last year? Well…"

* * *

><p>"…and when Xander told me that Willow had done the curse to restore his soul, and he'd hidden it from me, I wanted to scream, and shout, and cry, and hurt him, but I knew he was right. I hadn't been doing my job, and I knew that Xander told me what I needed to hear. I knew, at the end, when I looked into Angel's eyes, that it was him, that he had his soul back, but I had to send him to hell because of Alcatha. Because of what the monster that shares his body did. And I don't know how to forgive either of them. Xander for lying to me, and letting me send my love to hell, and Angel for becoming a demon after losing his soul."<p>

Buffy stopped, her throat dry from talking. She looked over at the clock in the room and realized with a shock she'd been talking for over an hour, close to an hour and a half. She felt drained, as though she'd run a marathon, and somewhat empty inside. She stopped, not knowing what to do now.

Oz stopped playing and flexed his fingers, tired and cramped after strumming for so long. He looked at his blond friend, and considered what to say.

"I don't have your answers. But I have some stress-lowering advice. Talk. To Willow, to Giles, to your mom, to Xander. Talk to them, get advice, use your friends as a sounding board. Second, start seeing a massage therapist. There's money for it, and it helps with the physical stress issues. Finally, eat more." Buffy gave him a dirty look at that comment. "Yeah, your mom told me to say that, but food helps you heal. And as a Slayer, I don't think it's possible for you to get fat. So eat. If you want chocolate, have some. Burgers, steaks, whatever. Muscles are powered by food, right?"

Buffy considered the idea. As a cheerleader at Hemery, she had routinely starved herself to fit in. But as a slayer, she didn't need to fit a physical ideal, she needed to slay vamps. Not to mention permission to pig out on double chocolate ice cream would be…tempting.

"So, did Xander go and find a list of hot Swedish massuses? Massuseurs? What's the plural for massage-er anyhow?

"Though he begged, and pleaded, and eventually threatened dire revenge, we let your mom choose a few for you to check out. Why not head home, grab dinner, and ask her about it?"

"That sounds something like a workable plan. Give a girl a lift?"

"Sure. Let's swing by the library first. I have a dinner date, and I think she needs a lift as well."

* * *

><p>Faith was puzzled, a little nervous, and kind of pissed off. The Scoobies, the gang that follows her sister Slayer around had been both incredibly accommodating, and strangely remote. They were all willing to stop, and chat, and certainly made patrolling much less boring, but she felt a wall that she couldn't get past, and was wondering when the other shoe would drop. She wasn't paying anything for the room she had been given, fully furnished and a hell of a lot nicer than the fleabag motel she'd checked into when she got into town, and she was apparently not expected to, because she was a Slayer. She'd tried to pay rent the old fashioned way with X-man when he helped her get her stuff, but even though she could tell he was flustered and interested, he'd turned her down. On one level, she was glad she didn't have to prostitute herself for the basics, but on the other, she'd never been turned down before. Wasn't she still smoking hot? Checking herself in the mirror, she smiled. Yep, still got it. She'd met G yesterday, the man from the land of tweed, and he gave off a vibe, not the creepy uncle vibe of the older guys that get handsy, but the dangerous vibe she picked up from some vamps, the smart ones. Shit, all that travel and stuff must have messed up her slay-dar, if G twigged her out.<p>

The girls, well, Queen C certainly lived up to her name, giving her a shit-ton of 'tude every time she walked by, but if Faith was in the library when she came in, it was almost as though she was a different person. There was obviously something between her and X-man, which may be why her turned Faith down. Queenie seems the controlling type. Red is cool, though she seems terrified of her, jumping when Faith walks up and says hi. And then talking her ear off. B, well, she's complicated. She seemed both happy and depressed to meet her, and hasn't really got it straightened out yet. Patrol yesterday was pretty cool. Faith had never used a paintball gun before, and shooting the vamps with shit that won't hurt your guys? Rockin'.

But now, she wanted answers, and she knew how to get them. X-man had got back from school about an hour ago, and was in the gym he'd set up, pumping iron or some shit. She figured she'd corner him there, and pump him. Maybe even get some answers, if she did it right.

With a sultry grin on her face, Faith swaggered down the stairs to the large, well-lit room filled with weights and mats, to see Xander ducking and weaving around the heavy bag. She could hear the thud of his fists hammer at the bag, sending it swaying more than she'd expected given his build. She was surprised to see just how much definition his muscles had. 'Shit, X-man's cut! This could be fun.'

She crept up behind him, planning on giving him a surprise, but stopped in shock when he paused in his assault on the bag and turned his head, catching her movement out of the corner of his eye. He steadied the bag and then turned, gazing at her with unsettling yellow eyes. His hands were clenching at his sides for a few seconds before he took a staggered step towards her and closed his eyes, swaying and would have fallen over had she not caught him.

"Shit X, you ok? What's going on?" Faith tried to keep her voice even, but there was too much stuff piling up that she just didn't get, and she was starting to get sick of it. She was going to get answers one way or another.

Xander ran his gloved hand through his hair, trying to shake off the lingering effects of the hyena, and the confusing desires flowing through him.

"You know that we back up Buffy on patrol, right?" Faith nodded, hoping this was going somewhere. "Well, Oz and Willow found a way to give him some of the strengths of the wolf, not enough to match a Slayer, but he can hold his own against fledgling vamps one-on-one. Add in the weapons and armor we use, and he's almost a match for a young Master."

"Whoa, hold the phone. You guys have armor? The fuck I don't get any? I'm just southie trash, is that it?" Faith was starting to get pissed at how she was left out. First no-one tells her anything, and now she finds out that she's the only one walking around without real protection? Fuck no! She came here looking for help, not to be treated like trash again.

"What's a southie? Anyhow, our armor is custom fitted, and takes six weeks to make. A Kevlar vest isn't all that useful against a punch that can dent steel or fangs, y'know? We've got the contact information for your Watcher so she can order you some." Xander noticed Faith's flinch, and mentally nodded, seeing that match up with what Giles and Willow had found.

"Shit. Sorry, X. I didn't mean to fly off at you, but…"

"You feel like you're on the outside. Well, we've kind of closed ranks to protect each other, it makes it hard to get in, I realize, but I'll try and give you some more intel as how our little group works. As I was saying, Oz has the wolf on a leash, and it lets him stand by Buffy and fight, so I asked Willow to set up something like that for me."

"You go fuzzy on the full moon as well, X-man? Wolfie give you a nip, get your mojo going?"

Xander's smile fell off his face as he remembered how he got the powers of the hyena. "No, I was possessed by a primal spirit last year, which really boosted me up physically, but left me out of control. I did a bunch of things I wasn't proud of, and there was a ritual to evict it, but there were still echoes of it in my head. Willow and Giles re-did a modified version of the ritual, gave me a lower power up, but not a constant one, which should protect me from future possession, but I have to go through a ritual and some meditation to channel, so most of the time, I'm just plain me. But when I get the time to power up, I'm on par with Oz, maybe a half step past him, though I don't have his control. When you snuck up on me, I had to remind the hyena who's in charge, and slap him back in line. I put him in his place, but it left me kind of dizzy for a few."

"Hyena? That's your possessing animal? Kind of bad-ass, X."

Xander blushed again. "Thanks Faith. Anyhow, we've spent a lot of time coordinating how to best patrol so everyone is safe, and everyone gets some free time. So we were just getting into the swing of things when you showed up, and now it's a new dance. Don't get me wrong, it's great you're here, but it's like tossing a juggler another knife unexpectedly. He's got to shut down and focus while he gets the rhythm again, but when he does it's that much cooler, right?"

Faith smiled, some of her tension melting away with his explanation. It didn't explain everything, but at least she wasn't feeling that wall in front of her again.

"Alright, I'm not going through my damn meditation again, so I'm calling this work-out for now. Join me for Twinkies and burgers?"

"X-man, you sure know how to sweet talk a girl."

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><p>Xander and Faith had continued to talk, mainly about lighter things, as he prepared dinner for the two of them. A half-dozen large burgers and several packs of Twinkies later, they were sitting around the table relaxing when Faith decided to push a little harder for information.<p>

"So, X, what's up with Queen C? About half the time she's giving me fashion tips, and the other half she looks at me like she's planning on slamming an axe through my spine. The two of you got a thing going on, or what?"

Xander let out a long sigh. "It's a complicated story, Faith, what happened was…"

His sentence was interrupted by 'God save the Queen' playing on his cell phone, announcing Giles. He shrugged and flipped it open.

"Hey G-man, what's…What? … Buffy's place? … How many? … Ok, Faith's here, we're on our way."

Faith was already standing up as he closed his phone. "Saddle up. Buffy's home is under attack, and we're going to be seriously outnumbered. Hope you're full of Slayer pep and energy, Buffy's estimate was over thirty vampires."

As they raced to the basement to grab the bags of weapons kept down there, Faith cracked her knuckles. "Five by five, X. Let's go show 'em they should never have left their graves."

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><p>AN: Next chapter – a fight scene!<p>

Please review. It makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside, like I swallowed a teddy bear.


	8. There's a Trick to keeping the Faith

I do not own the characters I'm writing about. They are apparently owned by Bolivar Trask

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><p>Buffy skipped up the steps to her house, and let herself in with a lyrical "I'm hoooooome!" Her mother walked out of the kitchen, following the smell of her world-famous meatloaf, and ended up on the receiving end of a huge hug.<p>

"Someone's in a good mood tonight. Something special happen at school today?" Joyce quirked with a grin.

"Nope. Well, a little. Someone pointed out that that moping around wouldn't make me feel any better, so I should try and be cheerful."

"Sounds like good advice to me."

"I'm giving it a try. Positive outlook, good things will happen, right?"

"It's a good start at least. Dinner's almost ready, why don't you wash up and set the table?"

Before Buffy could answer, the doorbell rang.

"Right, as soon as I get this."

Stepping over to the door, Buffy opened it with a hello on her lips. The words died there as she saw a menacing looking black man in a well-cut suit with several dozen thugs behind him. He smiled at her, showing just a bit too much tooth.

"Hello Slayer. I hope I'm not disturbing…"

What he was or was not disturbing was cut off by Buffy introducing her foot to his crotch, and her fist to the side of his head. She slammed the door shut, and ran into the kitchen.

"Mom! Call Giles! We've got…"

The sound of the kitchen windows being smashed interrupted her, causing her to grab her mother and make her way towards the living room. She barreled around the corner as the living room windows shattered as well, this time accompanied by a sharp pain in her left arm. Ducking behind the couch with her mother, she looked over at blood dripping down her shoulder.

"Interrupting me wasn't very polite, Slayer. You'll find I'm far more civilized when you're polite. All I wanted to do was ask you a few questions, but now, well, I'm gonna huff, "

Buffy risked a peek over the edge of the couch to see the well-dressed vampire holding a large pistol in his right hand just outside the window with his left hand extended to one of his flunkies.

"And I'm gonna puff"

His minions handed him a glass bottle with a rag in the end of it.

"And I'm gonna burn your house down."

* * *

><p>Giles had just finished off at the library and was walking towards his car when his mobile went off. He grumbled as he searched his pockets for it, knowing that Willow had set it up so all of the Scoobies had specific rings, but she used that modern garbage they called music these days, and he didn't recognize any of it. He finally retrieved his phone, having placed some of his books on the ground.<p>

"Hello, yes? …Joyce, a pleasure to…what? …How many? …She's been shot? …I'll call the others, and we'll be there right away."

Giles hung up the phone and started swearing at the infernal device, trying to decipher the modern menace's call listings. After a few seconds of fumbling, he managed to get Xander's number, and pressed dial.

"…Not now, this is an emergency…Joyce called, she and Buffy are under assault in their home…that's right, grab the weapon bags and get over there….at least a dozen, possibly more…Good."

After placing similar calls to Willow and Cordelia as he was getting into his car, he jammed the keys in the ignition and tried to push the accelerator through the floor.

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><p>Oz slammed on his brakes as they pulled even with the house on 1630 Revello Drive. He and Willow were first to arrive, seeing as they had still been in the car on their way to dinner when Giles called. Oz and Willow stared out the windshield for a moment, paralyzed at the sight of at least two dozen vampires swarming the house, not to mention the five vans and a limo on the curb in front. As flames burst through the front door, they were freed from their shock, and leapt into action.<p>

Oz climbed into the back of the van as Willow jumped out the passenger door, keeping the van between her and the vampires. She opened the side door and took a paintball gun and extra holy water ammo from her boyfriend, as well as a pair of stakes and a crossbow. She strapped the ammunition on and slung the crossbow while Oz outfitted himself as well, trying not to worry that no-one was going to show up wearing armor, and that neither Oz nor Xander would have had the time to go into their meditations to power them up.

In the thirty seconds it took them to gear up, Xander and Faith screeched onto the scene. They jumped out of the car and met the redhead and the werewolf, forming up with Faith in the lead. Leaping on top of the limo, they leveled paintball and water guns, and immediately opened up on the rear ranks, drawing screams of pain and confusion from the vampires.

Faith's gun puffed empty and she dropped it, switching to a sword and stake combo as she charged into the fray, Xander and Oz on her heels with axe and sword as well. They were replaced by Cordelia, with her high-end red paintball gun, and Giles with a bag of powder and a sword. As Cordelia and Willow lay down cover fire, Giles dropped his sword and started chanting and tossing the strangely scented powder around. His chanting reached a crescendo, causing the fire to flare up for a moment, and then fly out of the house towards the closest vampires, immolating them in seconds. It looked for a moment that the tide of battle was turning, until the roof of the limo they were standing on was torn out from under them, and the three of them fell into the car, face to face with a very ugly vampire.

* * *

><p>Buffy was holding her mother tightly to her, trying to protect her from the flames that had begun to consume the living room when a sudden gust of wind pulled the fire out of the house and back onto the undead on their porch. Gasping for breath, Buffy looked over and heard the sounds of battle from outside.<p>

"Mom, stay inside and grab the gear from the basement. There's holy water pistols and stakes, I have to help the others."

"Buffy, you're hurt! You can't go out there!"

"If I don't, my friends will be hurt. I'll be fine, I promise."

Holding her mother's eyes for another second, Buffy stood and slammed her foot through a charred end table, turning it into makeshift stakes. Then, in an inadvertent echo of her sister-Slayer, she, too, charged into the fight.

* * *

><p>Faith was starting to feel the pressure. Their holy water attack had weakened the vamps, and when she and the boys had hit the line, they'd managed to get a half-dozen quick kills on the injured and confused demons. G's spell had bagged at least four more, and it was starting to look like a sweep for the home team. Then support from the rear had stopped, and the ugly undead started to pull it together. Xander had taken a solid right to the jaw that dropped him for a minute, forcing her and Oz to stand over him and defend him while he shook it off. Oz took a few broken ribs for his trouble, and was down to fighting one-handed, holding his damaged sides with his other, while Faith had picked up a knife-wound on her leg that was bleeding more than she was comfortable with. She could feel Buffy join the fight, but they had no way of joining up, there were just too many of the damn things between them.<p>

She heard the puff of a paintball gun from her feet, and the vampires around her screamed in pain, leaving themselves open for the stakings and beheadings she proceeded to hand out. That bought enough space for Xander to climb to his feet again, dropping the paintball pistol he'd been carrying in his jacket, and reading his axe.

With the three of them standing again, and the vampires divided between Buffy and them, Faith was again feeling confident that they could burn through these vamps in no time.

Then someone punched her in the gut harder than she'd ever been punched, and the ground hit her in the face.

* * *

><p>Cordelia screamed and reflexively pulled the trigger of her paintball gun, likely saving all of their lives as a stream of holy water paintballs impacted the pig-faced demon. He bellowed in agony and swung one of his cloven fists at her, missing as Willow dragged her to the side. Giles was still woozy from the spell and the fall, but he was fumbling for his dropped sword, not realizing it had fallen outside of the car. Willow grabbed her stake and lunged towards the horrifying figure, trying to end the fight quickly. The stake shattered against his back, leaving a blinking Willow holding splinters, and unable to react in time to get out of the way of his backhand. The monstrous figure growled "Enough!" as he grabbed Cordelia by the throat and kicked Giles into the door to open it. Stepping on top of the stunned Watcher, he looked over at the fight still going on and smiled.<p>

Buffy paused in her slaying as she heard another gunshot. Feeling no new pain, she looked over at where the noise came from and saw the vampire in the suit holding his smoking pistol, and Faith collapsed to the ground. He smiled at Buffy and moved his gun so it was no longer pointed at Faith. Unfortunately, it was now pointed at Buffy's mother through the destroyed living room window. Buffy tensed to attack.

"Ah-ah Slayer, I wouldn't do anything foolish were I in your shoes. This gun is a bit twitchy, and I'd hate to see the mess it would cause on your dear, sweet mother. Drop the stakes, or mommy dearest gets a .45 caliber face lift."

Giles came flying out of the limo and sprawled inelegantly on the sidewalk as a huge vampire stepped out on top of him, dragging Cordelia with him.

"Mr. Trick, for your sake, Faith had better not be dead. Yet."

"Don't fret over it boss, she's bleeding a little, but it'll take more than a gut wound to stop a Slayer. What do you think? Should we take her friends, and continue what we started on her Watcher, or finish them off and go straight to the main event?"

* * *

><p>Xander and Oz were facing off four vampires in front of Faith, who had collapsed, and was curled into a ball crying after she heard the ugly demon start talking. Xander still had his axe in hand, but Oz had lost his sword, and was holding them back at cross-point. Xander caught Buffy's eye, and tilted his chin towards the pistol-wielding vampire. Her eyes widened for a moment, and then she gave him a half nod. Tossing a light tap at Oz's ankle, Xander whispered "Under my coat. You get the ugly one."<p>

Oz tilted his head and rolled his shoulder, waiting half a second before throwing his cross at the nearest vampire before batting his friend's coat to the side, revealing another paintball pistol. He yanked it out of the holster and opened fire on the vampire choking Cordelia as Xander took a step forward and hurled his axe at the one with the gun.

Trick was distracted by Kakistos' roar of pain, and almost didn't see the axe spinning towards his head until the last second. Grabbing a hapless minion to intercept the axe, he leveled his pistol towards the boy who threw it, shaking his head.

"Nice try, but you'll have to do better than that, kid."

"He did."

A searing punch to the face sent Trick tumbling away. He shook his head to clear it, and saw that the blond Slayer had retrieved the axe, and was making short work of the rest of his minions. He'd lost his gun when she hit him, and he knew it was time to cut and run. Stepping back into the shadows between the houses, he made his way to his backup car, parked a few blocks away for just this kind of contingency.

* * *

><p>Oz, Cordelia and a somewhat recovered Giles managed to keep the boss vampire off-balance while Buffy finished off the rest of the minions. As she walked over to the ancient vampire, Xander had managed to get Faith back on her feet and they met up with Buffy. The blond looked over at the junior Slayer, who was having a hard time meeting her eyes.<p>

"Faith, you know this guy?"

"Kakistos. He killed Diana. My Watcher." Came the mumbled reply.

Buffy stopped and thought for a second, looking over at Giles for a long moment before turning to Faith and handing her the axe.

"Then I guess it's time for you to even the score."

Emotions running freely across her face, Faith took the axe and, still trembling, walked over to where the demon who had been tracking her lay on the ground, moaning in pain from the holy water that was covering him. She stared down at him for a long moment before raising the axe over her head, and bringing it down on his neck, ending the terror of Kakistos for good. She leaned on Oz, her leg giving out as Willow crawled out of the limo. Xander took her and lowered her to the ground as Joyce came running out with the backpack-sized first aid kit. He spent a few minutes tearing cloth and wrapping bandages before turning to Giles.

"If it were anyone but the Chosen Two who'd been shot, we'd already be heading to the hospital, but as it is, I can patch everyone up back at the safe house. Oz has broken ribs, but he can heal those to badly bruised overnight if he changes, you have a concussion, so you're staying at the safe house so we can monitor you, Willow and Cordy are bruised, and I think I might have a concussion as well. I'll tape Oz up and he can move the vans and limos somewhere else so we aren't tied to them, Joyce can park your car here, and call the fire department for a statement before driving you over, and Willow and Cordy can drive the wounded to my place."

"I do NOT want to get blood all over my seats. And what about me? Bruised? That gorilla nearly broke my neck!"

Xander let out a long sigh, and reminded himself that this was just how Cordy coped with the violence. "Willow has some herbs that speed up healing. Add some Advil, bruise cream and ice, and you shouldn't even have a mark tomorrow. We'll put towels down to protect your car, it'll be fine. And Cordy?" The brunette looked over at him "thanks for helping out tonight."

A sad smile flashed across her face before she pulled her look of distain back into place. "Whatever, geek. Coming Summers?"

Oz started moving the cars as Giles and Joyce policed for stray weapons and figured out what lame story they needed to tell the police this time. Everyone else was loaded up into the cars, and slowly drove away.

* * *

><p>Mr. Trick was driving three miles under the speed limit when city limits came in sight, and a smile broke across his face. He was free of Kakistos, after far too long working under that relic, and now he had a chance to shine. He was going to show the world what a modern vampire could do, and how technology could make being bad sooooo much better.<p>

The smile left his face as a Bentley came out of a blind alley and cut him off, forcing him to stop. A pair of uniformed men yanked his door open and man-handled him into the luxury car before slamming the door on him.

Trick straightened his suit before addressing the shadowed figure across from him. "I have no idea why your boys stopped me and stuck me in here, but I assure you that one of us is about to regret it."

Before he could act, a feeling of cold dread passed through him, leaving him shaken, and fearful of the man sitting across from him.

"Now, I'm sure that we can manage to have a meeting without any unpleasantness, Mr. Trick. After all, an ambitious young man like yourself, capable of tracking a Slayer across the country and coming within inches of taking out not one but two Slayers at once, well gosh, he could have a great place doing business here in good old Sunnydale. But first, please, clean your hands. And take special care around the nails."

* * *

><p>AN: hope you liked the fight scene. Please review, because it's a good natural high, unlike huffing mice.<p> 


	9. Coffee and Twinkies for breakfast

I was misinformed. Apparently, the characters belong to Erik Lehnsherr.

* * *

><p>Xander awoke with a shock, falling to the floor. He lay on the floor in the sunshine for a few seconds, trying to figure out where his bed went, and why he was starting at a pair of white pumps. He was certain that he didn't own any. His thoughts were interrupted by a voice from on high.<p>

"I thought you and Giles were going to stay up all night because of concussion-type problems."

Strangely, the voice from on high sounded just like Buffy. Who probably owned a pair of shoes just like the ones he was staring at. Xander blinked a few times and came up with a witty rejoinder: "Hwaz?"

"I guess you managed to stay up most of the night, at least. According to Willow, you don't forget how to use words unless you've had less than two hours of sleep. Come on, coffee's on, and mom's making lunch and criticizing the food you keep here. And she found your Twinkie stash. I know this house is large, but did you really need to fill an entire closet with them?"

"Zrmne. Cnhvm."

Buffy sighed in an overly dramatic fashion. "I was warned that it would come to this. My failure to get you moving leaves me no alternative." There was the crinkle of cellophane, and a bright plastic wrapper dropped into his view. Xander instinctively knew that this was important.

"Oh. No. I am losing my grip on this delicious snack cake. Whoops." Buffy deadpanned as she released the Twinkie. She didn't even see him move, but before the sugary confection hit the ground, Xander's hand shot out, grabbed the Twinkie and crammed it in his mouth. Chewing twice and then swallowing his favorite snack, Xander finally sat up and looked at Buffy.

"Why am I on the floor?"

"You were snoring in the chair over here, and fell out of it when I touched your shoulder."

"I don't snore. I breathe. In a manly way."

Buffy smiled at her Xander-shaped friend, happy to see he was still the same goofy guy deep down.

"Of course you don't. I must have been mistaken. When I hear what sounds like a chainsaw coming from a person, I naturally make assumptions. Silly Buffy." She looked down at him, trying not to laugh.

Xander struggled to his feet. "I think the Geneva Convention outlawed that level of sarcasm before morning coffee, so I will decline responding until after breakfast. But that doesn't mean you're right, or that I'm running away from this argument."

Buffy generously allowed for a cease-fire until they'd made their way back to the kitchen and Xander had gratefully received a steaming mug of coffee and a plate of eggs and hash browns. The two of them sat down as Joyce continued to cook, obviously expecting more company.

"So, what's the damage to the house? Serious? Are you going to be looking for a new place?"

Joyce shook her head. "No, new windows and carpets, some scrubbing and paint, replace a couch or two is all. Last night Cordelia mentioned that she knew some contractors who could get the work done quickly, and she'd give them a call this weekend. She'll have an estimate and a time-frame for us by noon on Monday. She really is a very considerate girl."

Buffy and Xander exchanged glances, having different words that they would use to describe Cordelia, but deferred due to Joyce's presence.

Buffy decided to change topic, to prevent Xander from saying something regretful in front of her mother. "So, how is everyone after last night's excitement? Will we need a hospital trip after all?"

"No, we're cool. Faith was the worst off, but gunshots were something we focused on in training. I shot her up with antibiotics and painkillers before putting her to bed, and with Slayer healing, she should be back on her feet by Monday, and patrolling again in a week."

"So, no long term effects?"

"They way Slayers heal? It wasn't worth me stitching either of you up. She'll probably have a bit of a scar, but ten days from now, she'll be doing flips and cartwheels like she'd never been hurt at all."

"I noticed the lack of stitches. Are you sure that superglue is approved by AMA?"

"Probably not, but it is tried and tested field medicine, dating back to Vietnam. I figured that I could either put you both through the pain of getting sewn up, or just put a dab of glue on you for a few days. Of course, if you insists, my sewing kit is just downstairs…"

"NO! I mean, I'm willing to trust you know what you're doing. You got trained for all of this, right?"

The retort died on Xander's lips as Oz walked into the kitchen. The currently blue-haired musician nodded as Joyce handed him a heaping plate of food, and passed both Xander and Buffy seconds.

As the safe house needed to be set for every available contingency, there was, of course, a cage for Oz in the basement. While he could control the wolf much better now due to his summer of meditation, he lost his control when injured, and there are other times that he could be unable to reign in the beast. But since they wouldn't always be available to get him out, he and Xander had designed the cage so Oz could open it, but the wolf couldn't. The door opened inwards, making it impossible to push open, and it locked with a combination lock, removing the need for keys.

Unlike Xander, Oz was a morning person. At least that was a theory. In practice, it was hard to tell if the taciturn werewolf perked up after a mug of coffee or not, given how reserved and expressionless he was most of the time. His night in wolf form seemed to have done the trick, as he was moving without holding his ribs.

Oz glanced over at Xander after finishing off his breakfast. "Need a hand with anything today?"

"Actually, yeah. We went through a lot of holy water paintball rounds last night, so I was planning on making a few hundred more. Mind if I go check on Faith while you set up?"

Oz nodded, and then looked over at Buffy with a raised eyebrow.

"Oh the thrills. Well, I had been planning on heading to that new shoe store for their sale, but how can I turn down the exciting life of paintball filling?"

* * *

><p>Several hours later the entire Scoobie gang was gathered around the kitchen, just finishing off the steaks and potato salad that had been prepared for dinner. Faith was looking a little out of it, partially from her injury, and partially from the painkillers Xander had been giving her all day. Willow had shown up wearing a turtleneck, and Cordelia had a fashionable scarf, presumably to cover their bruises. Xander yawned every five minutes from lack of sleep, Buffy's arm was still bandaged, and Giles was slightly off-balance from the blow to the head he'd received, but everyone was looking well, considering what they'd been through the previous night.<p>

Giles unsteadily took his feet. He looked around at his family, his children who had been hurt, and felt anger and pride. Anger that they had been injured, and at the injustice that forced teenagers to fight. Pride that they had done so well against so many, especially considering the lack of time they'd had to prepare.

"I wanted you all to know that the events of last night were quite extraordinary. Not the large gathering of vampires, though that is indeed less common, but the way you handled yourselves in such a crisis. I-I don't say this enough, but I'm very proud of you. Of-of all of you. You've all done so much, and have shown such strength of character. None of you hesitated to throw yourselves into the fight. You rushed to Buffy's rescue without a word of complaint, and of course, she rushed right back."

Giles paused to glance around the room. Buffy was smiling at her surrogate father, while Xander was looking down, unused to praise. Faith was looking away as well, either due to some hidden emotion or because the younger Slayer felt she didn't deserve this. Willow was beginning to blush, and Oz had his arm around her, showing as much emotion as usual. Cordelia tried to paste her standard smirk on her face, but a genuine smile was showing through. Joyce was looking back at him and nodding, agreeing with everything he was saying.

"I've spoken with the Watcher's council today. Both to inform them of the fall of Kakistos, and to discuss Faith." The dark haired Slayer hunched her shoulders in, apparently expecting to be kicked out of Sunnydale and put back on the road alone.

"I informed them of her cunning in luring him here so she and Buffy could work together against him, as well as her fighting prowess, and how she struck the final blow against him. They have decided that having two Slayers on the active Hellmouth is indeed a good idea, and she has been remanded to my care, leaving me as the first Watcher ever to have two Slayers to care for and train. Faith, assuming that you wish to stay, you have a choice to make. You are welcome to stay here, or to take the spare room at my flat. I've also spoken with Joyce, and she would be more than happy to have you move in with her. You will, of course, continue to train and patrol with the rest of us, and Willow will see about ordering you the same type of armor that Buffy has."

Throughout his talk, Faith had gone from seeming depressed and resigned to shocked, and then pulled a guarded mask back on, though her eyes seemed to be shining. Her fellow teens were giving her nods, smiles and thumbs up, so she let a cynical smile cross her face.

"Shit, G, I'd hate to have to move. All my stuff is here, and I'm still playing doctor with X, y'know? I guess I could stick around for a while, show alla ya how it's done."

Giles suppressed a chuckle over Xander's blush and gave a tight, British smile at Faith's statement.

"Very well then. Welcome to Sunnydale, Faith."

* * *

><p>AN: yes, everything is shiny and happy. So far. But there will be character conflict. I promise. And it will come faster if you review.<p> 


	10. Relaxing Rock and Roll

Sorry once again. When I was told these characters belong to Mutant Enemy, I assumed at first that meant an enemy of mutants, and when told that was wrong, a mutant enemy of humanity. People should really be more specific, y'know?

* * *

><p>Personal Journal of Rupert Giles<p>

October 23rd, 1998

The events of these last few weeks have been very eventful, even for the Hellmouth, and I find that I need to write them out to keep them straight. Not to mention that we may need a true and factual account of events in the future, rather than the somewhat fanciful fiction that I send to the Watcher's council.

Though I have already written about Miss Lehane's arrival in Sunnydale, and our subsequent encounter with Kakistos, I feel that I should continue to focus on the younger Slayer, as it is she who has brought the most change to our lives recently. While being formally acknowledged and accepted by her peers has certainly helped integrate her into our group, I believe she is still having troubles assimilating the dynamic we use, and is still incredulous that we treat her as a person, rather than a commodity. Mister Harris and Joyce have had the most success breaking through her shell, though even that is very limited. She has obviously suffered greatly before coming here, and will not put aside her distrust so easily.

She is also clearly a woman of action. From my personal observations, and those I have received from the others, she truly comes into her own when she is doing something physical. Patroling and dancing seem to free her of the cares and worries that she hides behind, worries that may cause problems further down the line. I have wracked my brains on how to help her, and now I am wracking them on how to survive telling her that I have enrolled her in school.

I will trust that Miss Lehane's progress in opening up to the rest of the "Scoobies" will continue at the glacial pace she is comfortable with, and prepare for fallout if something occurs.

On the topic of fallout, I worry about both Misters Harris and Osbourne, as well as Miss Rosenberg's involvement in the magic they use. Both young men struggle with the beasts they harness, and this past week showed what could go wrong if they lost control. Miss Rosenberg has redoubled her research into finding more effective rituals to help them, but I fear that she will find the cost of more control is either less power, or more time. I also worry that she will attempt another spell that is too powerful for her, and the consequences will be far more dire than any of us suspect.

* * *

><p>Faith dropped into the bean bag chair just as inelegantly as Buffy had the first time she'd come to the makeshift therapy session. Oz raised an amused eyebrow at this, but didn't let anything show on his face. From what he had figured out about the dark-haired Slayer, she wouldn't take kindly to anyone being amused by her, even if it was only in her actions echoing her supernatural sister. He strummed a chord as he started composing the song Supernatural Sister in the back of his mind, and turned the rest of his thoughts to the obviously closed off young woman slouching in the bean bag chair. He could barely see her Black Sabbath t-shirt under her leather jacket and crossed arms, but it did give him a starting point.<p>

Faith was pissed. Sure, she agreed to play by the rules these guys set out, but she didn't really mean it. Therapy? Psha, right. Not her thing, y'know? But she was having dinner with Mrs. S last night, and the food was AMAZING, and then, POW! Mrs. S lays it on her that she's soooooooo glad Faith is going to be talking with Wolfie. Shit! If it was G setting her up like this, she'd laugh him off. Buffy? Please, blondie couldn't get her here with a squad of Marines. But Mrs. S just has that look, the one that shows she knows you'll do the right thing, and you just can't disappoint! The woman has some serious mind control mojo or something! There is no other way that Faith ended up here. Nope, not one.

She was so busy stewing in her denial that Faith almost missed the long, descending note that came out of Oz's guitar. She didn't miss what followed, after all, it was one of the most famous intros from one of her favorite bands.

"Fuck Wolfie, you like Sabbath?"

"I'm a musician named Osbourne."

Faith admitted that was a pretty good answer to her question.

"What else you got hiding in that guitar?"

Oz raised an eyebrow and started shifting between songs and genres. Smoke on the Water, Purple Haze, One, Baba O'Riley, and finished off with Eruption.

Faith was on her feet and astonished. "B said you were all Blues and classical and old crap. Nothing like this!"

"Buffy needed Blues and classical and old crap. You don't."

"So," she leaned forward, licking her lips, "are you going to give me what I need?" Faith squeezed her arms around her breasts, enhancing the view of her cleavage.

Oz gave her a sardonic grin. "That works on Xander every time, doesn't it?"

Faith fell backwards laughing. "Like magic! I'm like 'Pleeeeease?' and all of the sudden I have a steak and a pillow and we're watching that show about fixing Harleys."

Throwing off a riff from Steppenwolf, he nodded his head. This was going to be all right.

* * *

><p>"…and then he tried to buy the horse a prostitute!" Faith was rewarded with Oz actually chucking at her story. This was pretty ok. No talking about feelings, or any of that shit. Just a couple of buds hanging out. She looked up at the clock.<p>

"Shit. I'm having a blast here, but I promised Mrs. S that I do the whole touchy-feely shrink crap, y'know? And I just can't disappoint her. How does she do that? Does she have magic powers or something?"

Oz had gotten up and was putting away his guitar. "Probably. Or she might just be really cool."

"I guess. So, we gonna do this therapy stuff or what?"

"No, we're done for the day."

"Say what?"

"When was the last time you felt this relaxed?"

Faith opened her mouth with a sarcastic shot and stopped. She did feel relaxed. She'd been talking music, and telling dirty jokes with someone who she knew for a fact wasn't trying to use her. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done that.

Oz gave her a nod. "That's what this is." He handed her a sheet of paper that he'd been writing on that had the names of eight or nine albums she'd never heard of. "Try two and come back next week."

"Y'mean I don't have to talk about my feelings, or how I hate my dad or anything like that?"

He shrugged as he picked up his guitar bag. "You can. Don't have to."

Before Faith could get her thoughts together, he opened the door. "Scooby meeting in the library."

Faith felt her spirits fall at being excluded again. "Guess I'll walk then."

Oz gave her a strange look. "Hope so. Hard to drive in the school."

Faith blinked. "You mean I'm invited?"

"Wills said it was Slayer business. You're a Slayer." He gestured for her to precede him.

Faith stuck out her tongue as she passed.

* * *

><p>Rupert Giles was in a bad mood. He was concerned about his young charges, true, but that was not the reason for his current upset. He was wroth that he had received a call to come and pick up Mr. Harris because of his car troubles. Why the young man simply didn't walk home was beyond him, and of course he'd call right when Giles had settled down with a good tome and a properly brewed cup of tea. He had a good mind to tear a strip out of that young man and drag him to his house by his ear.<p>

He shoved open the doors of the library, stormed into the room and stopped. The entire "Scooby gang", Joyce included, were sitting around the library tables looking at him. Most with confusion, Willow and Xander with anger.

"W-what is going on here? I assume that Xander is not having car troubles, and that was merely an equivocation to bring me here?"

Willow looked up at him for a long moment before asking a devastating question.

"Giles, when were you going to tell us about the cruciamentum?"

* * *

><p>Sorry for the long wait, my muse apparently can't stand warm weather.<p>

The joke about buying a horse a prostitute is from the webcomic Least I Could Do by Ryan Sohmer and Lar DeSouza. They are far more talented than me, and I don't own their stuff, either.


	11. Making plans about torture

Joss Whedon owns Firefly, Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible's sing-along blog. I'm not using anything from those shows here, I just thought I'd mention them because they're cool. Oh, and I don't own Buffy.

* * *

><p>"The w-what? Where d-did you hear that term?" Giles was obviously flustered by the confrontation with the rest of Scoobies, and his increased stuttering reflected that.<p>

"It was in one of the Watcher journals you've been leaving around, Giles. I caught the first glimpse and then passed it on to Wills, who put the pieces together and filled everyone in." Xander glared at his erstwhile mentor, feeling betrayed and angry that one of the few adults he trusted had hidden something like this from them.

Giles straightened. "It's about bloody time you found it! I've been leaving those journals around for months! How hard is it to read a simple journal? I even gave you the ones written in English! Honestly!"

The younger crowd seemed non-pulsed by this sudden turn-around and outburst, but Joyce stood up and approached the Librarian.

"Rupert, if you went to the trouble of leaving the books around where the children could find them, why didn't you just tell them? Wouldn't that have saved some time, as well as frustration? I mean, it's obvious that you wanted them to know about this."

Giles gave her a wan smile and polished his glasses. "Th-the Watcher's Council has secrets that they try very hard to keep that way. Before being initiated into some of the, less savory, elements of the Council, they require th-that we take an oath of secrecy."

"So, you were going to let me get tortured because of a stupid promise?" Buffy was quite vocal in her rage.

Giles turned to her and let his shoulders slump as he replaced his glasses. "A magical oath. There are things I know that I cannot speak of. I-I'm not physically able to pass on the information in-in any deliberate sense unless I know the information is already know. Until Willow asked that question, and then Xander clarified you all knew, I was unable to so much as speak that word. I…do apologize for my outburst, but it was a bit of a relief to be able to speak of these things."

"So, this cruci-crap is for real? As in, modern day for real, rather than ancient history Watcher stuff? That's crazy!"

"Indeed it is, Faith. It is not used for every Slayer, for the simple fact that most Slayers do not live long enough for the Council to test them. The last time the cruciamentum was carried out was in the 1970's to an American Slayer named Nikki Woods. Every time a Slayer lasts long enough for it to be considered, a vocal minority of Watchers, all of whom have field experience, protest that it is antiquated and needlessly cruel, but the Council ignores us. I'm also fairly certain now that they use it as a means of getting rid of Slayers they consider to be unruly and beyond their control."

"Like me." Buffy's eyes made it clear that she was not asking a question, merely confirming something she suspected.

"Y-yes, Buffy, like you. For all that the Council does fight the demons to protect humanity, that does not make them saints. O-or even particularly nice. Were it possible, I would have left the Council, save that they would then replace me with someone who did not have your interests at heart."

Buffy let a small smile flit across her face at her Watcher's words, and was about to respond when Xander cut her off.

"Ok, so the Watcher's aren't nice people, but the real question is what can we do? I get the feeling that sending them a letter saying we did the curse-momentum, she passed with flying colors, thanks for asking will not exactly reassure them that everything is cool over here?"

Giles shook his head "The Council always sends at least one observer for the test, and they also provide the Vampire that you will have to face. I strongly suspect that in this case they will send a team over, with one of the Council heads in charge."

Buffy quirked an eyebrow "All that for little old me? Should I be flattered?"

"No. Not just for you. There are now two Slayers working together in this area. Since the Council granted Faith leave to stay here, they likely assume that the two of you are at the very least talking to each other. They will test both of you at the same time." Giles had a grim look as he explained.

"Ain't no thang, G. B and I can smoke 'em 2 on 2 even without our badass supernatural mojo. I got my girl's back, y'know?" Faith leaned back in her chair, using bravado to cover the unease this whole situation was giving her. Diana had never talked about anything like this, and she had yet to shake the helpless feeling that Kakistos had given her.

"I have yet to receive instructions for preparing for the test, but I find it most likely that I will be directed to acquire two houses to use. One of the structures is that the Slayer must fight alone."

Faith paled, though she tried to hide it well. Luckily for her, no-one noticed as they were all distracted by their own thoughts.

"You do have a plan, don't you Rupert? You aren't intending to let either Faith of my daughter go through with this insanity, are you?" Joyce was half ranting and half pleading as she addressed the Librarian again.

Giles took a deep breath "I…have an idea. I-I can't call it a plan yet, but now that you know about it, I can tell you what options we have available. It m-might not be easy, but there is something we can do to mitigate the amount of control that the Council will have. W-we must appear to co-operate with them, and be on model behavior when they arrive. There is one element that I will need that will require a sacrifice…" Giles trailed off as his eyes fell on Xander.

Xander looked scared for a moment, and then resolved. "I'll do it. I don't care what it takes, I'm in."

* * *

><p>"I changed my mind. I can't do this"<p>

"Shut up dweeb. It's too late to back out now."

"This-this is torture. This is inhuman! This is…"

"A three piece suit."

Xander slumped down, not yet ready to admit defeat, but powerless in the face of dress clothes. Cordelia was freely letting her amusement at this development show as Xander tried to avoid the fitting as though it were a coffin he was being measured for.

"Remind me again why I was the hapless victim here? Not, oh, I don't know, ANYONE ELSE?"

She smirked again at his anguished cry. Cordelia would never describe herself as vindictive (which was fine, because almost everyone else she knew would gladly do it in her place), but she was experiencing quite the moment of schadenfreude over her ex's suffering.

"Giles explained it. The Watcher's Council is primarily a boys club, so it would be far less suspicious to have a male assistant, leaving only you and Oz as choices. And while neither of you is a good fit for an ultra-conservative, proper, upper-crust brown-noser, it's you by default because they don't let werewolves play, and they will check for it. So stop whining, and try on this Zenga."

Xander let out a moan and finally took the suit with him to the change room. He cursed all the dark fates that led him to this moment, and left him with no avenue of escape. Removing his beloved and comfortable Hawaiian shirt, he struggled with the complicated set of Italian clothing. Stepping out, he complained, "This is very uncomfortable. And I look like and idiot."

Cordelia laughed at the sight of Xander in a suit. She couldn't say he was wearing it, but it was at least on. Rolling her eyes, she walked over and started to fix the, well, everything.

"You act like you've never worn one of these before."

"I haven't."

Cordelia paused. "What? You're seventeen years old! Have you never gone to a wedding, or church, or a funeral? We live in Sunnydale!"

Xander snorted "You think my folks would shell out for, well, anything extra? I have a pair of black slacks and a collared white shirt. I've never even worn a tie before. And the only time I really cared was Jesse's funeral."

Cordelia kept her expression blank as she continued to fix what Xander was wearing. She knew that bringing up his dead best friend was painful, but right now she needed anything she could get to distract her from how close he was to her, and how it still made her feel. She cursed her parents once again, and Xander as well for upholding his word of honor to stay broken up with her in return for her college fund. She finished with his tie and then stepped back, and failed to keep a leer off her face.

"If I'd known that you'd clean up this nicely, I would have made them shell out more for the breakup, dweeb."

Xander loosened his collar and took a breath. He had to admit that now he was wearing it correctly, the suit was more comfortable, though still a far shout from his beloved jeans and t-shirt. He also tried not to think about how being that close to Cordelia had affected him. He sighed, disliking how the suit clung to him, and turned to the mirror.

"Huh. I have to admit, this does look kindof dapper. But it's still not really me."

Cordelia smiled an evil smile "Don't worry, geekboy. We're not done with you yet."

Xander shivered at her statement "Oh no. What else are you going to do to me?"

"Willow told me to remind you of the story of Samson…"

Xander paled and grasped his head.

* * *

><p>Joyce, with some help from Willow and Oz, and a promise from Buffy to stay out of the kitchen, was just taking dinner out of the oven when Cordelia breezed in. Giles had set the table, and Faith was chatting with Buffy in the living room, but everyone nearby looked up to see the smug grin on the Sunnydale socialite's face.<p>

"This took waaaay longer than needed, thanks to his whining, but it is complete! I give you my masterpiece, the apprentice Watcher, Alexander Harris!"

There was a long pause, and you could almost hear the crickets chirping in the background. Cordelia turned and shot a nasty glare out the door "Mister, if you don't hustle your well-dressed buns in here right now, I am going to announce you again, and this time I'll use your middle name!"

Willow gasped at the dire threat, and Xander shuffled into the house. His Italian suit was tailored to his body, his hair cut short and professional, his shoes shined to a beautiful gloss, and he looked miserable.

A wolf-whistle sounded from the living room, and all eyes turned to see Faith…staring at Buffy with a mildly shocked and amused look on her face. Buffy, on the other hand, was doing an impressive imitation of a tomato with her complexion.

Joyce smiled at her daughter's embarrassment, but decided to give her an out. "Dinner's ready!"

* * *

><p>AN: does anyone actually know how to spell cruciamentum? I've yet to find a definitive source, and the ones I have seen are occasionally contradictory.<p>

Also, please review. It makes me feel complete. Like that last piece of a jigsaw.


	12. Walking around graveyards in suits

I don't own Buffy, or the characters from the show. If I did, my teen years would have been very different.

* * *

><p>On any other school day, the figure of Alexander no admitted middle name Harris walking through the doors of Sunnydale High wearing a tailored suit with neat hair would have caused all sorts of comical pauses in conversation as the entire focus of the High School population shifted to him, with Jocks accidentally slamming their hands in their lockers, seniors walking into walls, and one poor, unfortunate student inevitably slipping on a previous unnoticed patch of water and falling down a set of stairs.<p>

However, on this day they were distracted by the chaos of Homecoming preparations. There were four young ladies vying for the privilege of wearing the Queen's crown at the party, and all of them felt it necessary to push their campaign as hard as they could in the last few days before the ball. The most notably successful of the four was, naturally, Miss Cordelia Chase, and many of the students assumed it was a forgone conclusion that she would win.

Xander was grateful to her for choosing to debut his new look on one of the few days when he could pass without comment. Sure, she may act like a horrific bitch at times, but things like this proved that she really did have a heart of gold, beating underneath her warm, smooth…

Smacking himself on his forehead, he shook it off. 'Not allowed to think those thoughts anymore, Harris'. Shaking off his self-reflection, he made his way to class, where he was almost counted absent, as his homeroom teacher, who had known him for three years, didn't recognize him, and refused to believe that the same Hawaiian-shirt wearing slacker she had taught for most of High School would even recognize a hairbrush, let alone know what to do with it.

* * *

><p>Xander wasn't the only one getting a hard time at school that day. Faith had stayed over in the guest room of Casa de Summers last night, not an uncommon occurrence, citing the need for a positive maternal influence and to let the X-Man struggle with his humiliation on his own. Of course, the real reason had more to do with interrogating Buffy about her reaction to a well-dressed Mr. Harris.<p>

Buffy had categorically denied everything, including the wolf-whistle in front of a large audience, claiming she had been delirious from lack of food, and didn't remember it. After Faith started applying the thumbscrews, figuratively speaking, Buffy changed her story to admiring the fine Italian suit, and not the well-muscled youth inside of it.

Buffy would later swear that Faith must have been trained in interrogation by the KGB, because the younger Slayer finally managed to wring a confession that Buffy had been having warm and fuzzy feelings for her Xander-shaped friend ever since she had come back to Sunnydale, but was unwilling to do anything about it because of how badly her last few relationships had ended, and that she couldn't bear to lose him as a friend. This then led to the world's first Slayers-only pillow fight as Faith then suggested she wouldn't mind have a slice of that beefcake for herself.

Joyce, upon hearing the racket coming from upstairs where the two girls were gossiping, merely smiled, and sipped the tea that Giles had given her. She was glad that Buffy and Faith were managing to act like normal teens for once, and anyhow, the blend that Rupert had given her was simply divine.

Upstairs, the fight came to a decisive end when Buffy knocked Faith to the floor with a well-placed pillow to the back of the knees and then pounced on her darker-haired counterpart and pinned her. Faith let out another giggle.

"Guess you really do have somethin' for X-man, huh B? Well, consider this fair warning, if you don't make a move on him soon, I am going to take him for a test drive."

"Uurrgh! Faith!" Buffy pushed herself back up, but stayed straddling her friend. "It's not that simple! I mean…"

Buffy trailed off as her unfocused gaze came to rest on Faith. The Boston native would have made a smart remark then, but she instead pushed herself up and put her hand behind Buffy's head. The blond leaned in, until their lips were almost touching, and…

The two of them sprang apart, shaking their heads and wondering what had just happened.

"Wow. Xander. Mmm-mm tasty, am I right, Faith? With his hard, manly, muscles, and strong, almost stubbly chin. Very masculine, just what I like."

"Um, uh, yeah, right, a big hunk of cheesca-BEEFCAKE, I meant beefcake! Like Brad Pitt! Or those guys from that band!" Faith risked a glance back at Buffy, who was pacing about and trying desperately not to look at her. She let out a sigh of relief that whatever had happened seemed to have worn off.

Buffy turned to look at her at the sigh, tenser than a ten-story slinky. She relaxed when nothing happened.

"Y'know, Faith, studies have shown that developing teens need nine hours of sleep a night. I'm going to go…" she trailed off as she saw the pillows that they'd used had not survived the Slayer-strength impacts "…get a new pillow and call it a night. Yawn!" And with that entirely unconvinced fake yawn, she fled the room.

While maintaining an outwardly cooler appearance, Faith had also been rattled by what had happened, and decided to call it a night herself.

* * *

><p>In the morning, both young ladies were happy to note that whatever had happened the previous night had passed like a dream, leaving them to resume where they left off- Faith teasing Buffy about Xander. This was continued all the way to homeroom, which they shared, despite Faith being almost a year younger than Buffy. Apparently being tutored by one of the members of the Watcher's council was worth more then the majority of a US high school education. Who knew?<p>

The beginning of class led to a moratorium on the teasing, and Faith was either merciful or absent minded enough to stop for the rest of the day.

With the exception of Cordelia, who was planning her Queenship, the scoobies met up in the library after school. Xander, or Alex, as he had been calling himself during the day was looking frazzled as he flipped through a large tome at high speed, his eyes darting back and forth behind a pair of gold-rimmed glasses. He looked studious and focused, until Giles came out and pointed out the book was written in Hebrew, and he was reading it backwards.

"Aaaaaaaaugh! I hate this! Every one of my teachers has complained, accused me of cheating, and one said I was from a mirror universe who'd been smart enough to shave my goatee! And I have had to be quiet, polite and reasonable to them in exchange! How can they ignore things like vampires and disappearing students, not to mention the plethora of other craziness that arises just from living here, but obsess over a change of wardrobe!" Xander dropped his head on the desk and moaned pitifully.

"W-well, Xander, I do believe that your problem has its roots in the fact that while these other changes a-and unusualness that normally arise are too hard to believe, a teenaged male changing his wardrobe is, in fact, not. They just didn't expect it from you."

"Whoa there, G-man. You sayin' that X has been hassled all day because it's just crazy enough to believe?"

"In essence, Faith, yes."

The brunette shook her head "Gotta love Sunnyhell. So, what's the plan for today?"

"A-as the local, um, nightlife has been quiet as of late, we don't need particularly to indulge in any of the more esoteric forms of research, so the plan is to adjourn to, um, the safehouse, where we have a more extensive set up to exercise."

"THANK you, Giles. I have needed to hit something since ten minutes after I got here!" Xander stood up and started looking through his pockets for his car keys as their Watcher stood back, nonplused.

"Um, yes, well, we will also take the opportunity to go over patrol routes. I believe you two saw evidence of large animal predation last night?"

"If you mean Faith and I saw a struggle with blood on the ground in a graveyard, yes, Giles, that's what we told you. It was on the side near Angel's old mansion." Buffy grew quiet at the though of Angel, but shook herself out of her nascent funk.

"We'll swing by there on tonight's sweep. C'mon people, punching time! Let's go!" Everyone laughed and shook their heads over Xander's enthusiasm.

* * *

><p>"So, Faith, Oz and Willow have the night off, with me, Xand and Giles patrolling, right?"<p>

Buffy was toweling off after the workout as she addressed the group. Xander and Oz were doing some cool down meditation, Faith was stretching and trying to break Xander's cool, and Willow was slumped exhausted on the floor after a moderate workout, moaning about how cyberspace doesn't hurt like this.

"You got it B. Wolfie's giving me a lift to the music store before he and Red head out on a date, and then I'll head over to your place so Mrs. S can give me some homework help and I can listen in in case you three need me to bail you out. And then I'm going Bronzing with X-man when you're done."

"Um, I don't recall being consulted about heading over to the Bronze." Xander was still sitting in lotus, but obviously had an ear open on the conversation.

"That's cuz you weren't. Dress nice, you have a new image to maintain." Faith smirked at him.

"Giles, she's picking on me." Xander managed to deliver the line in a complete monotone, causing the corner of Giles' mouth to quirk upward.

"I've told you before, leave me out of your adolescent drama. It's bad enough dealing with it at school, I refuse to have anything to do with it after."

"Don't you have junior Watcher-y stuff for me to do?" Now everyone could hear the plaintive tone in Xander's voice.

"Hmmm. As a matter of fact, I do." Xander started to smile. "I feel that it is imperative for you to establish your new persona as quickly as possible. Therefore, you should go somewhere public where a number of your peers will be, and interact with them on a social level." Xander's smile was gone now.

"You're sending me to the Bronze."

Giles snapped his fingers "That would be the perfect place to help establish yourself. What a clever idea." Now everyone was laughing.

"You guys suck. I'm going to go eat a cheeseburger and put on my armor."

* * *

><p>Patrol had been quiet. Only two vampires, both alone, so neither had lasted more than a few seconds against the well armed trio. They were making their way over to where they had seen blood the previous night when Xander stopped. He turned, closed his eyes and sniffed the air.<p>

"Something old. It's nearby. And it's eaten recently. I smell blood."

Giles produced a cross and tightened his grip on his crossbow as Buffy cast around, stake in one hand and axe in the other.

A growl, a blur, and impact. Buffy was carried away from the other two by the tackle, dropping her weapons as she rolled down the hill with her assailant. She dimly heard Giles calling Faith for help, but the fetid breath in her face held her focus.

They tumbled to a stop and she wrenched her attacker off of her, giving her space as she tried to pull out another stake. She looked up at her attacker and paused, recognizing the eyes staring back at her.

"Angel?" She was almost in tears as she took in the face of her lover she thought she had sent to hell.

And then Xander's haymaker crashed into Angel's chin.

* * *

><p>AN: You didn't think I'd forgotten about him, did you?<p>

I ended up cutting a workout scene that I'd written because while it was funny, it didn't add anything to the plot. I'll see if I can work it in later.

Oh, and if anyone complains about my timeline having Faith and Buffy both stay in and gossip/pillowfight as well as patrolling, well, stop it. Have YOU ever gone shopping with Cordelia? You'd get back late as well. So they had plenty of time for both. Hah. So there.

I would also like to thank Mega Kilo 69 for the proper spelling of Cruciamentum, as well as correcting another spelling error in the previous chapter. You are now the closest thing I have to a beta reader, take a no-prize.


	13. The mandatory angsty chapter

The disclaimer was stolen by gnomes.

* * *

><p>Rupert Giles, Watcher, High School Librarian, Englishman and secret rock god was pacing his flat trying to figure out how exactly he had ended up with a vampire in his basement. One that he despised, no less.<p>

* * *

><p>Xander's punch had knocked Angel off of Buffy, and his follow-up kick had driven the vampire into a gravestone. Giles had lowered his crossbow, the two of them were too close for him to take a shot, and turned to Buffy. She was kneeling on the ground, looking like her heart had been torn out, and he realized that she was in no state to try and deal with this at this time. He knew that her makeshift therapy sessions with young Mr. Osborne had been going well, but something like this was still a terrible blow to her mind.<p>

Giles was drawn out of his rumination as he dodged a flying axe, and re-focused his attention on the fight. He was mildly surprised to see Xander not only had the upper hand, but was quite easily keeping it. Six months ago, these two had clashed with Xander managing to hang on to consciousness for all of ten seconds, but apparently the addition of a summer of training and the channeled spirit of a Primal made all of the difference. Well, that and the trip through Hell didn't seem to have done the vampire any good.

A brutal uppercut staggered Angel, and the follow-up left jab-right hook dropped him to the ground where he lay, unmoving. Xander's eyes glowed gold as he snarled and pulled a stake from his jacket. As he stepped toward the fallen vampire, he was stopped by Buffy's scream.

"NO!"

While Buffy certainly had mixed feelings about seeing her ex who had gone crazy and she had sent to hell, she also knew that she needed to talk to him. She tried to stand, but found that her legs still wouldn't support her.

Xander bared his teeth at the blond slayer before stepping back towards the downed vampire. Buffy knew that neither she nor Giles could possibly stop him in time, even if Giles were the least bit inclined to do so. She closed her eyes, unwilling to see the man she had loved die again.

"Step back Boy-Toy. I ain't 'zactly sure what's goin' on, but 'till I am, ain't no-one getting dusted, ya feel me?"

Buffy's eyes shot open to see Faith standing between Xander and the fallen vampire. The brunette was breathing hard, like she had just finished a hard run, and was staring down Xander. He tried to step around her, but Faith stepped with him. Xander's nostril's flared, and he canted his head to the side, sniffing. Faith held steady, and relaxed a hair when he dropped the stake.

"Ok, now does someone want to tell me what's goin' o-MPH!" Faith was cut off as Xander tackled her away with a yipping growl.

Giles sighed and walked over to check Angel, with some distaste. He held a cross in case the vampire was faking, but when he didn't even twitch, he pulled out a set of shackles and was binding him when Joyce ran into the clearing, puffing and panting.

"M-mom?" Buffy's voice broke as her mother didn't even break stride and wrapped her in a huge hug. The younger blond lost what control she had left and started sobbing into her mother's shoulder.

Joyce comforted her daughter, reassuring her that all was well, and she was there, and had started to get her calmed down when they faintly heard Faith.

"Dammit Boy-Toy, not the place! I may be into some kinky shit, but no graveyards for me. Why can't you be like this at home? I said NOT NOW!"

There was an unusual noise, and a few minutes later Faith, looking quite disheveled, strode back into the clearing with Xander following along behind her, holding his nose. She was grumbling something before stopping in the clearing and looking around at the scene.

"WELL? Is ANYONE goin' to tell me what th' FUCK is going on?"

* * *

><p>A quick explanation had ensued, and resulted in Joyce taking Buffy home to cry into a pint of Rocky Road, and Xander lugging the unconscious Angel into his trunk, dropping the vampire, Giles and Faith off at Giles' place, and heading home himself.<p>

Xander was heading back to his car after dragging Angel to Giles' basement when he noticed that Faith was leaning against the driver's side door, glaring at him.

He opened his mouth to apologize only to find it filled with her tongue. She had grabbed his lapels and swung him around to pin him to the car while giving his tonsils a firm cleaning before letting go with a glare.

Xander's mouth moved without purpose as his brain tried to find a gear.

"I am friggin' TIRED of this game, X! You like me, I like you, but every time I try to get close and get pelvic, you run off like a scared rabbit! What the FUCK! Am I not good enough for you? Is that it, I'm just some halfway house trash good enough to fight and die?"

"NO! That's not it." Xander's brain was still looking for traction, but his gut instinct was always to validate a woman's self-worth. And eat twinkies, but that's neither here nor there.

"Look, Faith, you're hotter than a forest fire, and I'd say you were worth ten of me if I didn't feel I was shortchanging you. I'm, well, I'm trying to deal with a lot of things now, and I don't think I'd be a very good boyfriend."

Faith slammed her hand onto the roof of the car, not quite hard enough to leave a dent. "I don't WANT a boyfriend, X, I want to get LAID. I haven't got any since before I left Boston, and not only does Slaying bring on the H&H, but you are such a friggin' tease! Especially tonight! Shit, Laughing boy, I would have jumped you right back if we hadn't been in one of the few places I hate! Fuck!"

Xander took a deep breath, and prayed that he didn't stick his foot in his mouth. "Look, Faith, I know what you want, but I'm just not wired for keeping things casual. And you deserve a boyfriend, someone who sees you as more that just an easy lay. You're awesome, and you should have some guy who deserves you because he sees that, and who treats you like that."

Faith punched him in the shoulder hard enough that his hand went numb for a minute. "YOU'RE THAT GUY, YOU DICK! You treat me better than any guy I've ever met! Fuck! Whatever, X, just go. I can't deal with this right now."

Faith stormed back into Giles' house, leaving a confused and worried Xander to drive home, thinking about what he should do.

* * *

><p>Faith had slammed the door to the flat to find that Giles had heated a frozen pizza and poured her a tall glass of coke. Grabbing a slice and stuffing it into her mouth, she chased it with a long gulp of soda, then put the glass down and looked at the Brit. He nodded and looked over to the bottle on the table, labeled Johnny Walker. Before Faith could drop innuendo, as Giles knew she inevitably would, he poured himself a glass.<p>

"No, I am not trying to get you drunk. One drink won't hurt, and you certainly seem like you could use one after tonight. Not to mention I need one if I am to explain the history behind the vampire in the basement."

Faith shrugged and continued to devour the pizza as Giles told her the story of Angelus, the gypsy curse, his time in Sunnydale, losing his soul, Alcatha, Jenny, and finally Buffy sending Angel to hell. At the end of the tale, the bottle was significantly lighter, all the pizza was gone, and Faith was more than a little amazed by the goings on in Sunnydale.

"What are we going to do with Fang anyhow? Why didn't we just straight up stake his ass? Half the shit you've said tonight is true, he's earned it. Fuck, I've got the creepies just knowing he's down there. Hell, how could B get close to this guy? Every vamp I've every dusted there was like a buzzing in the back of my head, telling me to get aggressive, and not in the naked way, y'know?"

Giles sighed. "It's a complicated question, Faith. If that is, in fact, Angelus, then I will take great pleasure in giving him some holy water tattoos before ushering him into the back yard to get a tan. If, however, that is instead Angel, then he deserves a chance. So long as it's out of town, and far, far away from Buffy. As for getting close, not all Slayers are quite the same. There is a grimoire, a book, kept at the center of operations for the Watcher's council, which details known powers for the many slayers throughout the centuries. There are some inconsistencies, some translation errors, and the odd outright lie, but while all Slayers have speed, strength, endurance and senses beyond that of a normal person, it is variable how far beyond, and what else comes with them. For instance, there was a Slayer some three hundred years ago who was able to pray for fire to consume her foes, and it would. She was drowned as a witch by superstitious villagers, possibly encouraged by local vampires, but I digress."

"…huh?"

Giles polished his glasses as he tried to translate from English to American Teenager. "All Slayers have the ability to sense Vampires, but the strength of this gift varies between Slayers. After Buffy first became the Slayer, she went through a rather traumatic time, not unlike you. Her first Watcher, Merrick, died, her high school burned down as part of collateral damage, and she was institutionalized."

"Instawhat?"

"She was put in a psychiatric hospital for evaluation for several months. She had half convinced herself to ignore what had happened, pretend she wasn't the Slayer. When she first met me, she was horrified at the thought of fighting the darkness again. I suspect, though I cannot know for certain, that she had suppressed her ability to sense the undead, and now can't get it back."

"Her slaydar's busted? Ouch. I guess that can explain how she did the horizontal with Fang down there."

Giles cleared his throat uncomfortably "Yes, quite. I've hung crosses on the inside of the basement door and windows, as well as locking and barricading it. He's as secure in there as we can make him. The spare room is made up, and it's been a long day."

"Yeah, I don't think he'll try nothing anyhow. X-man put him down hard." Faith stood and stretched. "Y'know G? You're pretty cool. For an old Brit." She smirked.

"And with that validation, my life is complete."

* * *

><p>Faith left in the morning, likely to hunt down Xander to either continue shouting at him, or possibly something else. With no-one in the house to distract him, Giles was pacing, and fretting.<p>

A knock on his door pulled him out of his reverie. He opened the door to come face to face with a bespectacled man of middle years wearing a well tailored, if somewhat outdated, suit.

"Pardon me, are you Rupert Giles?" the man asked with a west London accent.

"Um, ah, yes. Could I help you?"

"Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum est." Giles' eyes grew wide at that statement, and he stared a moment before responding.

"Bene qui latuit, bene vixit."

The stranger nodded. "Wonderful. Now that we've got the rubbish out of the way, d'you mind if I come in?"

"Of course." Giles stood aside as the other man walked in. After he had shut the door, the man turned back to him.

"Elliott Marston. The council sent me, though you should ring Mapperley to verify that."

"I was intending to check your credentials, but why so immediate?"

"Because there's a rogue watcher headed here, with murder on the mind. You should make sure it's not me."

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry for the drama and angst, or as I call it, character development. I promise the next chapter with be more action oriented, but part of my idea for this story is that, hey, these are kids here who are fighting the evils of the world. Sometimes they'll screw up, or implode, or just not know what to do, and then they'll fall apart. If you don't like it, tell me. If you send flames, I'll use them to decorate my yard.

Oh, and for those who were wondering, yes, Faith did snap Xander out of it by swatting his nose like he was a misbehaving puppy.

The next no-prize goes to whomever guesses who Elliott Marston resembles.

Quemadmoeum gladis nemeinum occidit, occidentis telum est. - A sword is never a killer, it's a tool in the killer's hands. (Seneca)

Bene qui latuit, bene vixit. - One who lives well, lives unnoticed. (Ovid)


	14. Threats, Watchers and Violence

The person responsible for the security of the last disclaimer was sacked.

* * *

><p>Xander hung up his cell phone and let his head rest against the wall behind him. He'd just got off a very disconcerting phone call from Giles, and he knew that it was going to lead to pain for him in the very near future. Likely moments after Faith finished her shower. And that was the sound of the bathroom door opening. Yep, he was doomed.<p>

Faith walked into the kitchen wearing a loose terry cloth robe which was clinging to her damp, well muscled frame to see Xander putting his fake glasses back on.

"X, if you think for one second that I won't hit a guy in glasses, you should be ready to dig glass out of your eyes, ya got it?"

Xander closed his eyes for a breath and then turned to look at Faith.

"Very droll Miss LeHane. As I have requested before, please address me as either assistant Watcher Harris, or Alexander. And please get dressed, we have urglmph!"

Xander's voice was cut off as Faith took him forcefully by the throat and pinned him to the wall. She glared right into his eyes, seeing a hit of panic, but mainly resignation.

"X, if you think for one second that I'm in the mood for jokes after last night, you've got a concussion coming, y'know? So cut the crap and stop hiding behind the suit, or so help me I'll…"

Xander realized that he was risking getting his finger torn off and possibly put someplace uncomfortable when he pressed it against Faith's lips, but he really didn't want to hear another threat this morning. It was turning out to be a bad start after all. Luck was with him as she relaxed her grip slightly, but the furious look in her eyes let him know he had to speak fast.

"Mr Giles just called. There are two new Watchers in town. He is currently meeting with the one, and the other is apparently preparing to kill all of us. We are to pick up Miss Summers and rendez-vous at the library to be briefed and updated." Xander winced at what he was about to say. "Please dress appropriately, we don't wish to shock Mr. Marston."

Faith stared at him for a long moment before letting him go and leaving the kitchen en route to the gym. He heard a scream of frustration, a loud thud, and then a moment later a crash, as the heavy bag she had just punched off the chain slammed into the wall. As she stormed up the stairs to her room, Xander said a silent prayer of thanks that he was still alive. If only for now. He picked up his phone to call Buffy, hoping that she had managed to pull herself together after last night.

* * *

><p>A subdued, quiet and orderly trio approached the library. Faith, for once, was wearing an outfit that did leave something to the imagination, though she would not allow herself to be parted from her beloved leather jacket. Buffy had managed to pull herself together for now, but those who knew her could see that she was feeling delicate, and hiding behind a veneer of calm. Xander was just glad that neither of the two super-strong women had tried to kill him yet.<p>

The school was quiet at this early hour, though they could hear Cordelia berating a subordinate somewhere off in the distance. Willow and Oz were being kept out of the meeting for now, until they had a better grasp of who this new Watcher was.

They opened the library doors to see two bespectacled men wearing tweed jackets with leather elbow patches conversing over a tome in low tones. They stopped as the three teens walked in, and Xander stepped forward.

"Watcher Marston? I'm Alexander Harris, Mr. Giles' assistant, and these are the Slayers, Miss Summers and Miss LeHane. Welcome to Sunnydale."

Marston shook his hand with a grin. "Elliott, please. I've always found the overt formality of the Council to be stuffy and unnecessary. Faith, I've only heard a few things about you, and read some of poor Diana's reports, all of which say sterling things about you. Buffy, well, not only have I read Rupert's reports on the longest-lived Slayer in over 150 years, but also the ones that Kendra made to Sam Zambuto. You're a very impressive young woman."

Both young women were slightly non-pulsed by the new Watcher, but also secretly relieved that he wasn't a stuffy idiot.

Elliott continued "Rather than break up the team, as it were, I'm to support Mr. Giles with the research and training. He'll be your primary Watcher, and I'll be filling in for him in areas he can't cover. Having two Slayers is almost unique, and having two in the same place for more than a few days is entirely so, so we may have some, well, fuck-ups, though we'll try to avoid those. If we find this isn't working, then we'll change it. The Council may be slow to adapt, but we'll try to be more, well, reactive."

Now all three teens were failing at keeping shock off their faces. All the stories they'd heard about the Council, both from Giles, and earlier from Kendra (or Diana in Faith's case) led them to believe that it was peopled by ultra-conservative old men. This dynamic Englishman was putting a lie to those stories.

"Now, the reason I am here. I was slated to arrive in California in the new year, rather than early October, but circumstances arose that you needed to prepare for. We have a rogue Watcher, which I admit may not sound all that frightening, but keep in mind this is someone familiar with the supernatural, and in this case Black Magic, and you begin to understand the threat. Gwendolyn Post" at this he produced a folder with a photograph of a moderately attractive blond of middle years "was a researcher for the Council until she was cast out for practicing Black Magic and human sacrifice. She is obsessed over an artifact called the Glove of Myhnegon, and she believes it to have been last seen in the area. Unfortunately, she destroyed most of her research on it, so all we have to go on is the name Von Hauptman. She apparently intends to use it to destroy the Council, starting with you lot, and then take her place as ruler of the world. She's a fruitcake. A very dangerous one, perhaps containing grenades, rather than tuppence. Oh, and as an added complication, a powerful demon called Lagos is also searching for this glove, and has taken to following her, so he's likely to show up as well."

Buffy, being more resilient to the unexpected than her teenaged allies, was the first to recover from this unorthodox briefing.

"So, evil Watcher and nasty demon both want the glove of minivan, which was hidden by the van-opt men. We have to find it first, despite the evil Watcher lady being the one who knows all about it, right?"

Marston looked at her quizzically as Faith and Xander tried their hardest not to laugh, while Giles, standing behind Marston, covered his eyes and shook his head. He snapped out of it before Marston turned to look at him.

"Did you understand any of that?"

Giles shrugged and tried to keep a smile off of his face. "They call it English, but, well, they are colonials." He looked at his young charges, all of whom were sporting looks of annoyance. "I-if it helps, I'm fairly certain she gave a moderately accurate summary of the situation."

The early bell rang before they could get any farther, sending them to class.

* * *

><p>The Scoobies were sitting around at lunchtime, with the exception of Cordelia who was still campaigning. Faith was still scowling at Xander, Willow was trying to process the fact that she was banished from her beloved library, Buffy was still trying to get back into the game after the series of curveballs life had been throwing her, Xander was trying very hard to act proper and British, while being terrified that Faith was going to put him in a traction, and Oz was, well, Oz. Aside from comforting his redheaded girlfriend, he seemed pretty much the same as usual.<p>

"So, Mr. Marston is our new Watcher there's another Watcher called Post trying to find a mystical glove to kill everyone and she's being followed by a demon who ALSO wants to kill everyone and the only clue we have is the name Von Hauptman AND that they're both heading this way to try and find it and use it gain phenomenal power and on top of all that Angel showed up last night during your patrol?"

Buffy gave Willow a strange look as the techno-pagan gasped for air after her particularly long run-on sentence.

"First, breathe Wills. Second, yes, that's pretty much where we are. Third, how can you hold your breath that long and manage to talk?"

"Bubbe Rosenberg taught her. You haven't been scolded until you've had that woman enumerate your deficiencies to the world. She must breathe through her ears or something. I knocked a box of cereal of the counter one time when they were up from Miami visiting, and she went off on me for half an hour. Not joking on that time frame, by the way."

Buffy cocked an eyebrow at her well-dressed fake assistant Watcher. "You're telling me that not only did she give you the scolding of a lifetime, but you timed it? And she didn't mind you staring at your watch for the whole thing?"

"Actually my dad timed it. And gave her a 6.2 when she was done. He told her that the volume and duration was impressive, but the time she made his younger brother wet himself in under five minutes was the gold standard. And then he grinned at her until she gave him a very disapproving look and he ran away to hide."

As the teens shook their heads over the eccentricities of the Rosenberg family, Faith had a thought.

"Red, you're Jewish, right?"

"I hope so, otherwise they might make me give back the presents I got for my bat miztva."

Faith pondered that for a second before shaking it off "Well, I'm asking 'cause I noticed that you carry a cross on patrol, rather than a Star of David. 'Sup with that?"

Willow gathered her thoughts for a second before replying "Well, the Star of David is considered a symbol of Judaism, but of the culture, rather than the religion. There is some debate on the topic, but most Rabbis and scholars agree that it isn't a religious symbol, and as such, wouldn't deter vampires at all. Secondly, even if it was a religious symbol, it has nothing to do with conquering the power of death, which is what the symbol of the cross represents. Giles has been trying to get his hands on some of the studies into alternate religious symbols that the Watcher's Council have conducted, but their research bureaucracy moves somewhat slower than a glacier, sooo we may not get the results until we're in our 40's. Lastly, I'm not terribly Jewish, aside from my name, so I'd rather not literally put my neck on the line to test it."

"What do you mean 'Not terribly Jewish'?" Oz asked. Xander was still a little freaked out how little intonation Oz could put in his voice and still convey his meaning. On the other hand, the musician might consider it a game to do so.

"Well, I only go to synagogue when my dad's parent's visit, and I had a bacon cheeseburger last night, violating two of the kosher rules, so, y'know, not terribly Jewish." Willow smiled as she shrugged.

* * *

><p>Patrol that night was divided into two groups: Xander, Faith and Marston sweeping through the east side cemeteries, with Buffy and Giles sweeping the west, joined by Oz after they left Marston's sight. Willow was doing research into the Von Hauptman name, at Revello Drive and chatting with Mrs. Summers. Xander and Faith covertly had their radios on them, with the other team being more overt about it.<p>

The plan was for Giles, Buffy and Oz to take a detour to Giles' flat about halfway through and check on the vampire in the basement, determining if it was Angel or Angelus, before continuing on and finally rendezvous with Marston, Faith and Xander at the end. There was a significant amount of worry over Faith's team, seeing as they didn't bring most of the more high-tech toys they had, her armor hadn't arrived yet, and probably wouldn't until the new year, and Xander couldn't get into a Hyena trance around Marston without giving up the game. Sure, they had patrolled under tougher circumstances, but that was no reason to be happy about it.

Patrolling with Marston was not as they had expected. While both Giles and Diana Dormer had relaxed and become "less stuffy" once they grew to know their charges, it had taken quite a while. They hardly expected Marston to insist they call him Elliott if they were going to fight together, and offer them a scotch.

"Look, I know you're underage here, but I don't give a toss for those rules. We're about to engage in life and death combat against supernatural evil, so I figure it's best to take the edge off beforehand. Not enough to get drunk mind you, that'd be moronic. But a quick belt to help you relax might save your life. Or not, but I'm more comfortable facing death knowing I won't pass from this world without the taste of Glenlivet on my lips."

Faith gleefully accepted as Xander passed, and then Marston, I mean Elliott, surprised them again with his reaction to the motorized water guns.

"Bloody good idea if you ask me. Not that those inbred arseholes back in merry old would agree. If it doesn't have five hundred years of history to it, it's too newfangled for them. I expect them to pass an edict any day allowing wheellock pistols."

He also managed to keep up a steady stream of interesting trivia about vampire history and monsters as they patrolled, keeping the whole thing from being boring.

He was telling a story of how he once saw a vampire get drunk when it fed off a lush when Faith cut him off.

"Sorry El, but Slaydar's pinging mad hard up ahead. A dozen plus vamps and something nasty."

"Right. Alexander, call the others, let them know where we are. Then we'll sneak towards them, and see what's going on. If it's too much, we'll engage in a tactical withdrawal."

"En-what in a what?" Faith looked puzzled as Xander grabbed his phone.

"Turn arse and run."

"Got it."

* * *

><p>It turned out that there weren't a dozen vampires up ahead. Well, not anymore, at least. In the time it had taken them to move up, the "something nasty", also known as a seven-and-a-half foot tall demon with a wicked looking axe, had managed to reduce that number to four. As they watched, the demon managed to choke-slam one of the remaining vampires into another with his off-hand, and beheaded a third with his axe. The last one decided to engage in the better part of valor, but unfortunately ran right into Faith. And her readied stake.<p>

The big demon finished off the last two just as Faith pulled her stake back, and growled at them. Faith smiled, and before Marston could say anything leapt forward, drawing her sword. Xander unslung his axe with a sigh, and Marston took aim with his crossbow, hoping for a clear shot.

Faith's charge was met by a parrying axe, and a left hook that tossed her ten feet backwards. Xander swept in from the side, hoping to exploit the opening she'd left, but he lacked the speed of his hyena meditation, and ended up catching a returning axe to the belly. He collapsed as Faith gave an anguished cry.

"Well, this is a proper cock-up" Marston muttered as he fired his crossbow, hitting the demon in the shoulder. Discarding his crossbow, he pulled out his half-full mickey of scotch, a handkerchief, and a lighter.

"Such a waste" He bemoaned as he stuffed the cloth into the alcohol and lit it, before throwing the whole thing at the demon.

"Faith, grab Alexander! We need to leave now!"

The brunette slayer picked up her friend gently, and started running towards the car. Marston grabbed the weapons and followed, grateful that Alexander had told him where the hide-a-key was on his car. They reached the vehicle just as Giles and Buffy pulled up.

"What's going on?" Giles asked as Faith gently carried Xander into the back seat.

"We're engaging in a tactical withdrawl!" Marston shouted.

"Right." Giles nodded and gunned it.

* * *

><p>AN: For those wondering what Elliott Marston looks like, there should be a link in my profile<p>

As promised, an action scene! And pseudo-religious debate! And Xander getting beat up by more than just Faith!

The bit about the Star of David being a symbol of the Jewish culture is the culmination of a debate I had with a Jewish friend of mine, and we really did go and ask his Rabbi. If you consider it a symbol of faith, mazle tov. I'm not saying it isn't, I'm saying I was told it's not, by a single Rabbi, and I extrapolated from there. He may be wrong. The distinction between the holy symbols conquering death is one I got from a message board, feel free to disagree with it, I'm not saying if it's correct or not.

As for Willow not being very Jewish, well, she does convert to goddess-worship type Wiccan in season 4 or 5, so I don't consider that a big debate point.


	15. That sometimes shuts up sorrow's eye

A Moose once bit my sister…

* * *

><p>Humans get the short end of the stick when it comes to healing magic. No-one is sure why. It might me the nature of magic, the sacrifices involved, or some, bizarre metaphysical screw-job, but most healing magic plain doesn't work on humans. At least the big stuff doesn't. Even the dark rituals used to extend lifespan only give twenty to thirty years, tops. In order to live longer, you'd have to sacrifice your humanity, along with several fortunes in rare and expensive herbs, and probably some unlucky souls as well.<p>

The fact of the matter is, healing magic doesn't do much for humans. At least that's the traditional thought. It turns out that taking several brilliant people, and one guy who lives to point out what he considers obvious, with serious interests in magic and mundane healing, and you can get some really cool synergy.

Xander spent Homecoming mostly comatose with a mixture of anti-inflammatories, Aum extract and St. John's Wart in an IV for him; runic patterns for energy channeling drawn on his ribs and stomach, in a room with tightly organized Feng Shui. A fresh stick of Willow's special incense was lit every five and three-quarters hours (minus two minutes), and the room had Southern exposure to maximize sunlight. It wouldn't have him doing back-flips by Monday, but he'd be awake, if not terribly lucid (when they tested this method of healing, he'd been loopier than a roller coaster for four hours after he'd been exposed). He'd be able to return to school by Tuesday or Wednesday, though he'd likely need a cane for a few days, and a diet of soft food, low in artificial ingredients. Really, it was being cut off from his Twinkies that hurt the most.

Cordellia, Willow, Oz and Buffy had all gone to Homecoming, partially to distract themselves, and partially to make sure that nothing out of the ordinary happened. As it turned out, it was a quiet night, supernaturally speaking. No vampires, evil magics, or bounty hunters to be seen. Giles and Marston did research, and read the new Watcher into the secrets of the Scoobies (which had been well and truly spilt when the cavalry had come running to the rescue). Elliott seemed surprised but pleased with how the group had formed, and swore to uphold their secrecy from the Council, agreeing that the old stuffed-shirts back in England would never approve of Slayers having a social life and friends, even if they did help hunt vampires.

Faith stayed at Xander's bedside, making sure the incense was changed on the schedule that Willow had given her, eating the casserole that Mrs. S had brought over, and trying to get her thoughts straight over everything. Until she had met Diana, her first Watcher, she'd never really felt accepted. Diana's death was a wound that she still carried, one slow to heal, and certainly one she'd never forget. But these quirky Californians, with their proper British father figure, eased the pain she carried, and made her feel welcome. Mrs. S in particular was a one-woman welcome-wagon, feeding her, and mothering her, in all the ways her own mother never had. She treated her as a daughter, and assumed that everyone would be just as welcoming. While she still had many of her self-defense mechanisms in place, she was beginning to thaw towards this strange bunch of Californians (including the two obvious transplants).

* * *

><p>Xander returned to school on Wednesday, mainly because he didn't feel like explaining why he had to walk with a cane. A case of the flu explained his absence and weakness better than "I was almost cut in half by a huge demon", an excuse that Synder was not terribly fond of.<p>

In his absence, much research had been done. Willow had traced the Von Hauptman family to one of three places in town: the ancestral manor (bulldozed and replaced with a strip mall), the family crypt (due to be checked ASAP, but they have to go through paper records to find it), and the liquor store that the last member of the family owned, now re-done as a hair salon. Lacking a magic detector, the group decided to split in two: Buffy and Cordelia would head to the salon with Marston as their uncle driving them, and snoop around, while Willow, Oz, Giles and Faith would head to the town archives, braving vampires, bureaucracy, and the red-head's complaints about backwards, techno-phobic public officials to try and track down the crypt. Xander would stay at Casa de Summers with Joyce, catching up on homework and minding the radio.

At least that was the plan until it was derailed by a troll. A hideous, annoying, poorly-dressed troll with chocolate bars.

* * *

><p>"I didn't even realize our school had a band." Buffy complained as she carried the box out of the school alongside the rest of the Scoobies. She noticed that her school spirit was seriously lacking compared to when she was a cheerleader. Of course, back then she didn't have to worry about horrible, world-ending menaces.<p>

"Oh, yeah, they play at football games, and basketball games, and, um, I can't think of any other times. I considered joining at one point, but I only play flute and piano, and they didn't have any openings for flute, or a piano, OH! and I have trouble walking and reading music at the same time."

Faith smiled, a crude comment on her lips when Cordelia walked over and handed them each a wad of cash. They looked at the money, looked at her, looked at each other and then looked back at Cordelia.

With an exasperated sigh, she roller her eyes. "I may not be the best with all the oogie-boogie stuff, but I do know that saving the world is more important than handing out this crap. Daddy owes me for missing the last football game, so it's on him. Keep the candy, throw it out, shower with it, whatever. Just don't waste time selling it."

"Um, I'm not sure about the rules for this sort of thing, but doesn't it behoove the Homecoming Queen to actually have some school spirit, and be motivated for this sort of thing?" Xander smirked at his former girlfriend.

"Ugh. Bite me, nerd-boy."

"Not allowed anymore, sorry." Xander was on the receiving end of three slaps, as Willow, Faith and Cordelia all attacked him.

"Ow, ow, stop, still healing, oh the pain!"

Faith and Willow looked shocked and horrified at this, remembering he was still healing, but Cordelia snorted.

"That didn't work on me when we were dating, and it doesn't now. So get moving people! This research won't do itself!" She stormed off to her car, muttering about the changes in her nice, normal life.

The rest of the gang stood there for a moment before gearing up and swinging into action, Oz driving Willow and Buffy home with Xander playing chauffeur for Faith.

* * *

><p>In a small town like Sunnydale, almost everyone donates to school fundraising events. It's just how it is. So Buffy and Cordelia were surrounded by people eating chocolate bars as they approached the salon with Marston. He sighed as they got to the door. "I travel thousands of miles across an ocean and a continent to fight the forces of supernatural evil that prey on humanity, for what? To distract a woman brandishing hair-rollers in a beauty salon. The excitement never ends."<p>

The pair of teenagers shot him a look before opening the door and walking in. The lady behind the counter was not a ringing endorsement of the salon, with try, over-bleached hair and makeup that looked as though it had been applied with a paint roller, but they squared their shoulders and walked forward anyway.

She looked up from her Cosmo magazine as they approached, and waved at them the chocolate bar clutched in her left hand. "Howya doin', and welcome ta Suzie's Dos. I'm Brandi, how can I help ya?"

With a voice like nails on a chalkboard, the three of them shivered as she spoke. Cordelia had mustered the will to approach the woman when she dropped the chocolate, her eyes rolled to the side and she slumped out of her chair, falling to the floor. Around the shop the scene was repeated, as several of the clients and stylists crashed to the ground as well. The trio rushed to attend to the fallen people, noticing that they had started to drool, and their eyes were still rolled back. They were shaking slightly, but seemed unharmed aside from a few bruises, and a mild burn with a curling iron.

A crash from outside alerted them, and they rushed to the window to see that almost half of the people outside were in similar seizures, including at least one driver, to judge by the car wrapped around the telephone pole. Buffy was nearly paralyzed at the scene until her phone rang, with Xander in a panic because Joyce had fallen unconscious and was shaking on the floor.

"Xander, hold on, we're on our way back. This isn't just mom, but almost half the town. We'll rush her to the hospital when we get there, just keep her safe, ok?" She hung up the phone and grabbed the door when Cordelia swore.

"Crap! It's the candy!" They all looked around and saw evidence of the candy wrappers where people were passed out. Not with everyone, but certainly enough of them that there was reason to believe it.

"It's no coincidence that everyone dropped at once. Look!" Marston pointed to the skyline showing the last remnants of a sunset in the west. "Someone used a spell or ritual to do this. We need to find some of the candy to figure it out."

"That won't be hard, we dumped half of it at my place. Call Giles and the others, tell them to meet us there."

Elliot fumbled with his mobile as they ran to the cars, bringing it up to his ear and cursing. "No connection on the other line. I fear that Rupert and the others are underground and unable to receive calls. You go take care of your mother, I'll find them and bring them back."

Jumping into Cordelia's red convertible, she gave a tight nod as the two cars took off in opposite directions.

* * *

><p>Buffy had managed to get her mother comfortable on the couch while Cordelia set up a call circle to try and get news and Xander pulled out the medical box that they kept there. He did so carefully so not to pull his stitches.<p>

Once Joyce was resting, he pulled out several types of incense and herbs, sorting through them while mumbling to himself, before handing a dried twig of some type to Buffy and grabbing some matches.

"I'm not great with the magical side here, but I remember that lavender has calming properties, and doesn't interact with anything, so this should be safe." He lit the leaves and gave Buffy a metal bowl to put them in. Buffy felt herself relax slightly as the smoke filled the air, and her mother's tremors lessened.

Then they waited.

Cordelia was punctuating her phone calls with frequent obscenity, surprising Buffy with both the foulness and variety of ways of swearing the society girl had. She let off a particularly long string of vulgarities as the door opened and Giles and Marston charged through, followed by a worried Willow and Faith carrying Oz in a Fireman's hold.

"Quick, put him here. Where's that damned chocolate?" Giles was brimming with rage, but contained it as Xander handed him one of the bars and a book. Giles had heard about the sales, of course, but was fortunate that he'd been undisturbed in the library while it was handed out. He quickly rattled off several symptoms as he leafed through the book, and the rest of the team followed his examples while Willow and Marston pulverized and then melted down the chocolate at the kitchen counter.

The sounds of frantic research were cut off with a resounding "FUCK!" as Cordelia pitched her phone into the decorative brick fireplace.

"Whoever was behind this was smart. They left opened boxes of the candy in the police station and hospital break rooms. Fire crews and ambulances are mostly ok, but the streets are a mess, and from what I can tell, between a quarter and a third of the city was hit. Including the little weasel Snyder."

Silence filled the room until Willow started. "Oh. Oh! Hey, I've got it!"

Everyone crowded into the kitchen to see Marston pulling on his glasses and staring at the reaction that Willow had made. Pink smoke was rising from the strange apparatus she had assembled, and the smell of pine trees permeated the air. The atmosphere was greasy, and people felt a tingle in their back molars.

"It's a modified German sleep potion! It was used to get a night's uninterrupted sleep, free of nightmares. It's been strengthened so people don't wake, and the eyes and shaking are from the mind trying to go into the REM cycle, but being locked out!"

Marston looked at the apparatus. "It would appear that whoever did this added some sort of base mineral to lock them into the dream state. I would suggest finding a ritual to counteract sleep, but modify it with the antipode of the base, once we determine it, to break through this potion. I'll start on a magnifying circle, so we can cover the town."

The Scoobies leapt into action, wielding books, chalk and crystals as they cobbled together some sort of counter to the ritual. The deepening night weighed on their minds, knowing that any vampires who came across passed out people in the middle of the street wouldn't hesitate to indulge.

With Willow scribing the circle and Giles checking it, the ritual was assembled quickly. Lines were written out, candles were lit, and people took their places.

They began to chant, more incense and herbs were lit, and soon, with a ringing crescendo, Willow threw her head back and screamed

"_**Aupnoj!**_"

Both Willow and Marston dropped to their knees as the spell went off, Willow from powering the spell, and Elliot from amplifying it. Buffy rushed inside to see her mother shaking her head and waking up, as well as Oz rubbing sleep from his eyes. She launched herself at her mom, who caught a ballistic slayer hug with some confusion.

"Buffy? What's wrong? Weren't you out at the salon investigating?"

But Joyce's daughter was so happy that she was safe she couldn't find the words. Xander and Cordelia guided Willow to the couch next to Oz, and Giles helped a babbling Marston to an easy chair. After a brief explanation to the formerly passed out people, Faith took charge.

"A'right, me and boy-toy will drive a sweep, make sure everything's chill. Queen C can use my phone to check the same. Wolfie and Red should bed down here, and the old guys can head back to G-man's. We cool?"

Tired nods were the order of the evening, and Faith helped Giles carry Marston to the car, the latter babbling about something outside the lines, and splitting the line untold times. She shook her head at the Watcher. "Old man talk is weird."

* * *

><p>Mr. Trick opened the door to a darkened yet tastefully decorated office and silently stepped in. He closed the door behind him and turned to the desk.<p>

"The tribute to Lurconis went off without a hitch. The sacrifice was deemed acceptable, and it won't be missed after the chaos at the hospital. The files have been changed to rule all four cases SIDS caused by the neglect in the mess."

"Good. I've dealt with the CDC and the governor, they won't investigate, and it won't be carried in the news either. I do admit surprise that the candy was countered, and so quickly as well. The Slayers and their allies are more impressive than I expected. This is why I vetoed your little plan for homecoming. Always remember, Mr. Trick, the deadliest enemy is one you don't know you have."

* * *

><p>AN: FINALLY! I've had writer's block caused by my new job as a tech writer for a while, so it's a relief and a pleasure to put out the next chapter of my opus.<p>

Grammatical notes: While the spelling looks wrong to me, the abbreviation of hairdo is do, and pluralizing it is dos. I think it looks wrong, but what do I know?

For those who want to know what the final word of the spell is, that would be "Awaken!" in Greek, at least according to babelfish. I can't even spell baba ganoush. And this site won't use greek characters, so it's not quite as cool as I would have liked.

I loved the Episode "Band Candy", and I will admit to the temptation of having a drugged-up Joyce try to jump Xander, but I wanted a more subtle, more menacing Mayor, and now you've seen him. I also didn't think I'd be able to do it justice.

Questions, comments and reviews can be sent to the normal place. Flames will be used to defrost my car.


	16. Zen and the art of demon slaying

The disclaimers have become far too silly. Stop this nonsense at once, acknowledge that I don't own any TV show, let alone one as amazing as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and remember that under fair use and parody laws, I am allowed to use the characters so long as I don't profit from them. So no sending me money.

And now for something completely different…

* * *

><p>Oz shook his head as he woke up, trying to piece the previous night together. It wasn't a strange blur of sounds and smells like when he Changed, more like a movie with the middle reels missing. He frowned (slightly). He hated missing character development, even if the denouement was more exciting. And hearing about it wasn't the same. It lacked emotional depth. But such is life. Shrugging his shoulders, he swung his legs off the cot, and dropped to the floor to meditate. His control was getting better, but perfection was for the Buddha. Although Oz worried that if he ever did attain Nirvana, he'd be killed in the street by a devout monk. And then took comfort in the fact that this worry stopped him from completely letting go.<p>

* * *

><p>Having breakfast with a crowd was strange to him. Especially a crowd consisting of two Summers women and Willow. His parents, when he saw them in the mornings, were quiet, in a hung-over or philosophical way. Hard to tell, really. But here, it was like a melody. Willow was the soprano verses, carrying the tune, interwoven with Joyce's pleasing alto providing stability to the piece, and Buffy's somewhat muzzy mezzo interjecting a slower pace on the hummingbird-quick soprano. This changed as the blonde absorbed coffee and pancakes in equal measures, increasing the tempo, building to a crescendo, and then trailing off as the three women looked at him for response.<p>

"Good thing you found what you needed in the archives before I conked out."

His contribution to the conversation satisfied, he let his mind wander as he refused coffee. As part of his meditation, he'd cut out caffeine, alcohol, tobacco, cannabis and rutabagas from his life. He'd considered removing refined sugars, but a doughnut a day keeps the wolf at bay.

He nodded thanks for breakfast as he grabbed his bag and walked to his van, left parked in the drive by Willow. He was glad that she'd paid attention during the driving lessons, and not just the reward sessions that came after them.

* * *

><p>School was strange today. Not just the subdued feelings from the students. Joyce hadn't wanted to let them see the paper this morning, but she couldn't keep the fact that there were over two dozen fatalities last night as a result of the candy. It could have been much worse, he knew, particularly if the Scoobies hadn't countered the spell so quickly. He'd have to make sure they understood how amazing it was that they saved so many people, rather than bemoan the fact that more than a score died. It was tragic, but so was any given night on the Hellmouth. It wasn't that they failed, but that someone else succeeded. Oz wondered what they succeeded at for a moment, and then refocused his train of thought.<p>

Xander.

That's what was strange. The suit-wearing Scoobie looked nervous in a goofy sort of way, like he'd been ambushed by a pillow and was expecting it to happen again. On the other hand, Faith looked relaxed and satisfied, and had more sway in her step than she did yesterday. It was obvious that…

**BRRRRRRIIIIIIIINGGGGGGGGG!**

The warning bell sounded, breaking the werewolf's concentration. He cleared his mind and headed to his computer science class, where his project on debunking the Turing test was waiting.

* * *

><p>After a busy morning, Oz needed something to cut the tension in the group. They reported back to the Watchers in the library, and then he convinced them to accompany him outside, where they sat in the sun and listened to his guitar slowly weep. Without looking, he could feel the tightness ease out of his friend's shoulders, though the two brunettes kept exchanging looks behind Xander's back. And there was a strange energy between Buffy and Faith. As he shifted to a major chord, he wondered if it was some Slayer thing, or if his senses were going haywire. While the wolf understood the wolf's senses completely, he lacked that understanding, and wasn't certain if things he picked up on with them were real, or just mis-interpretations of data.<p>

Regardless, he would file it away to see if he understood later.

As he played, he listened to the group. Having found the Von Hauptman family was reduced to nothing but a crypt, the location of which was in the archives they raided yesterday, the plan was to go in force as soon as school was out, leaving Xander behind at Revello drive because he was still injured.

The self-described doughnut boy protested this action, though in vain as the force of two puppy-dog stares, one cold glare and a…sultry raised eyebrow? Really? Well, if it works it works, because he looked away and agreed with a huff.

Still not sure what's going on with the sultry raised eyebrow. And it was definitely sultry. If there's one thing a musician knows, it's…

Are those honey-glazed crullers? Oz smiled (though it may take a micrometer to prove it) and helped himself.

* * *

><p>There was something fundamentally strange about being in a Sunnydale graveyard while the sun was up. The amount of time they had all spent skulking around, looking for fledglings, and fighting under the starlight made walking past graves in daylight feel almost surreal. But at least it stopped vampire attacks. Not sure how it would help against demons and crazy ex-Watchers, but Oz always tried to look at both sides of an issue. The team was well armed, regardless. Buffy was in the lead, armored up and carrying a sword and a stake, with Willow a few steps behind with a crossbow, giving directions. Oz followed his girlfriend, also wearing his armor and carrying his favorite axe, maintaining a hold on his meditation in case of a fight, and Giles was right behind him, sword at his side and crossbow readied. Cordelia, Marston and Faith brought up the rear, the socialite and the Watcher armed with their uniquely loaded paintball guns, and Marston carrying a scary mace, and Faith watched their back with her sword, wishing that her armor wasn't going to take another three to five weeks to finish.<p>

Philosophy and music fell by the wayside when Oz was using his meditation to try and control the wolf. It was like jumping off a building wearing a jet pack: you knew what your goal was, and had a vague idea of what to do, but there were no instructions, and if you don't figure it out in time, someone could die. He didn't really like it, because he had to lose control and try to ride the wolf, steering it like a bucking bronco. But at least he didn't lose his abilities to make metaphors.

Willow navigated them to the Von Hauptman crypt, a large mausoleum, overgrown with ivy, that radiated a strange menace even in the afternoon sunshine. Buffy tried the door, and finding it locked, performed a kick and rolled through the now open door. Oz was only a step behind her, axe at the ready, and saw…Buffy standing in a dusty crypt. He stepped outside with Cordelia and kept watch as the others ransacked the place. After ten minutes of banging around, they heard Willow's "Aha!", and the group of them came back out with a large wrapped bundle. Before either of the sentries could speak, a low, menacing voice called out:

"Give me the Glove!"

Heads turned as they saw the hulking figure of Lagos stride out of the trees, the burn scars from their last encounter still vivid a week later. He was clad in ancient, yet heavy armor, and carried a massive shield in his left hand to compliment the deadly blade in his right.

"Faith, Oz, go left!"

Buffy didn't hesitate as she broke right and threw a low shot with her sword, trying to catch the demon's leg below his shield, counting on her friends to keep his sword busy. She regretted her move instantly, as his massive blade buried itself in the ground, inches from her, and her attack just bounced of his armor. Giles' arrow bounced off the demon's breastplate, and neither Oz nor Faith managed to do more than scratch the armor.

Cordelia let loose with a round of paintballs, trying to hit the massive creature's head, but he seemed content to ignore the holy water rounds, barely irritated by them. Willow and Marston were conferring, trying to figure out a spell to use, but the three warriors on the front-line were hard pressed to keep up.

Oz rolled back, unable to continue his meditation, and tried not to collapse. He saw both Slayers managing to stay ahead of the demon, but neither seemed to be able to make an impact. As his mind cleared, he hefted his axe and lobbed it to the blond.

"Buffy! Back of his knee!"

Dropping her sword, Buffy snatched the axe from the air, and rolled between Lagos' legs. Faith charged in, throwing shots at his head while Buffy steadied herself and used the heavier blade of the axe to cleave into the weak point in the armor.

Lagos bellowed in pain and collapsed, dropping his guard enough for Faith to skewer his eyeball, and the rest of his head as well. She kicked him off her sword and he fell over, dead.

Panting from exertion, Faith nodded to the sprawled musician. "Nice call, Wolfie."

Oz was about to reply when the soft 'ka-click' of the safety being removed from a firearm caught everyone's attention. A blond of middle years stepped forward, swinging her rifle to cover the Slayers. Everyone froze as Gwendolyn Post, the renegade Watcher they'd been warned of, looked at Willow and the bundle at her feet.

"I honestly didn't think you could kill Lagos after he'd strapped on all that armor. Well done, top marks all around. However, I'll still be taking the Glove. Now."

Marston looked at her, puzzled, but made no move for the Glove. "I would have expected you to be throwing spells around, not bullets. Where did you get a Kalashnikov, anyhow?"

Raising an eyebrow, she sneered at him. "Spells when outnumbered this badly? Not likely. When in Rome and all that rot. As to where, this is America. Land of opportunity. And people who will sell anything for a price. Now toss me the Glove or I'll take it from your corpses."

Raising his hands in surrender, Marston slowly reached down picked up the bundle. He walked a few feet closer, and tossed the whole thing at her. She dropped the gun as she made the catch, and then went down under the fury of two Slayer-strength flying tackles.

"Should've stuck with spells. Stupid bint."

* * *

><p>Rather than contacting the Watcher's Council to have Ms. Post immediately extradited, the turned her and her illegally purchased firearm over to the police. When it turned out that she had entered the country without a passport, the whole thing was handed over to the State department, and a tip-off to the Council would have them waiting to pick her up when she was shipped back to London. All without a single poncy, annoying, bureaucratic Watcher having to step within several thousand miles of California.<p>

Back at Revello Drive, Willow and the Watchers were preparing the Living Flame to destroy the Glove, while everyone else was getting food together or relaxing after an exhausting fight.

Xander crashed down on the couch next to Oz, and figured that the werewolf could handle a little ribbing.

"I hear that someone ran out of gas for their meditation half-way through a fight. What's the matter, can't go the distance?"

Oz raised an eyebrow, and with the lightest of smiles on his face waited until Xander had taken a mouthful of soda before responding.

"Was last night the first time you slept with Faith?"

Xander sprayed soda all over the window.

* * *

><p>AN: I felt bad for not writing more with Oz, so he got a chapter mostly from his point of view.<p>

Also, I'm now typing for dogbertcarroll, which is actually increasing my productivity. Go check his stuff out, he is one of my favorite authors on this site, and one of the main reasons I started writing this story.

"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him" is part of a Zen koan, and meditating upon koans is supposed to help one achieve enlightenment, and attain Nirvana. However, as has been previously stated, Oz has a noted preference for Black Sabbath, so that won't be an issue.


	17. Two dead to know any better

[insert funny disclaimer here]

* * *

><p>Buffy hesitated, her hand on the doorknob. She knew it was past time to confront this issue, and that she couldn't let herself be distracted any more. Not by new Watchers, or demons, or evil gloves, or even her surprisingly good SAT results. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and opened the door. Stepping into the gloomy basement, she pulled the door closed behind her, and turned to where she knew the only occupant of the room was.<p>

"Hello Angel."

* * *

><p>At that exact moment, a drunken blond was prying himself out of the wreckage his car made after crashing into the Sunnydale sign.<p>

"Home sweet home!" Spike slurred out before falling unconscious.

* * *

><p>"I've been trying to figure out what to say for days now. I mean, what can I say? I sent you to hell, after evil-you tried to destroy the world. And now you're back. None of this is great conversation material. I don't even know if you're Angel or Angelus." She paused, staring at the recumbent figure in the half-light. "Why are you back? How?"<p>

"…Buffy?"

It was more a croak than a word, but she was instantly on her guard, stake in hand.

"Sit up slowly. Any stupid moves and I'll be crying as I dust-bust you up."

The figure painfully pulled himself up and leaned back against the wall. He looked pale and drawn, more so than usual. His hands shook slightly, either from fear or a side effect of being in hell, she couldn't tell.

"Angel?" How one word could be filled with so much hope, yet so much fear she never figured out, but at the time, she felt like she poured an ocean of emotion into those five letters.

He looked at her, and she could tell it was him. She could see it in his eyes, the loss, the pain, the love. If she hadn't had supportive friends and family, this might have broken her. But her friends rallying around her, helping her get through this let her do what she needed.

"I love you Angel. I think I always will."

He smiled, feeling some of the pain in his soul fade away.

"But I can't be with you. Ever. So you need to leave."

She stood up and walked away, missing the look of shock on his face.

* * *

><p>In an old burned down factory, there came a dreadful cacophony of what could be called music, if one were feeling very generous.<p>

"Ah travel'd eACh an' evr'y HIGHway! An' mor'! Mush mor' 'an this! Ah did it myyyYYYYYYYY WAY!"

Gary Oldman would shake his head. Sid himself would bottle the bastard. But Spike was oblivious, drunkenly screaming off-key lyrics as he trashed the remains of Drusilla's doll collection. He eventually collapsed in a heap, sobbing the rest of the lyrics through his tears, like a pathetic wanker.

* * *

><p>Giles and Xander walked into the basement, neither looking entirely happy about it. Angel was still sitting there with the same look of shock, and didn't snap out of it until Giles cleared his throat.<p>

"…she…what? But…I don't understand."

"What's to understand, Captain Forehead? She loved you, you almost destroyed the world. You make Romeo and Juliet look like amateurs when it comes to doomed romance. But you both survived, and get a second shot. Just not at each other."

The vampire slowly stood up, looming over Xander.

"You did this, you turned her against me. Do you think you can just move in after I'm gone and…"

"Angel." Giles interrupted quietly, but with authority cracking from his voice like a whip. Angel flinched back, remembering what he had done to the man.

"Though it may have been stated crudely, was anything Xander said wrong?"

"…No." The admission felt like it was covered in barbed wire, but Angel couldn't deny it.

"Were it my choice, you-you'd be a stiff fart in the breeze right now, but it's not. Buffy insist that you've done good, and while I do hold more than a little animosity towards you, I can't disagree. But you won't stay here. You and she are dangerous together, and the temptation is unnecessary. So you'll leave."

Angel looked as though he would protest, but just nodded instead. "As my mind started to come back, I realized the same. Doesn't mean I like taking orders, but I'll leave. A few months to tidy up old business and…"

"If you are inside city limits at dawn, rest assured that I will ensure you see it."

Angel was visibly taken aback, but didn't get a chance to argue as Xander chimed in.

"You and she are a crate of dynamite and a forest fire. We're choosing not to tempt fate. There's a car registered to Liam Angel out front, keys are in it, as is two grand in cash. Considering what you've done, it's more than you deserve. Take it and leave."

After a pause, Angel spoke back up. "Fine. There are things I've been meaning to look into in LA, I can be there…"

"EEEEEINT! Strike two!" Xander crossed his arms in an 'X'. "You're a drug addict, and she's your fix. A two-hour drive is not enough distance. Head for the Rockies and don't stop until you're on the far side. Hell, head all the way to the East coast. Drive up to D.C., get rid of some of the parasites there. And kill some vamps while you're at it."

"And if I don't?" It never took much for Angel to get annoyed with Xander, but the teen was really pushing his buttons today.

"Then I hope you're a fan of Kansas."

"Why's that?"

"'Cause you'll be dust in the wind."

* * *

><p>Spike managed to pull himself up and shake some of the dust off. Upon slightly sober reflection, this wasn't a particularly smart move, coming back to the old wreck.<p>

"Heh. Lookit the place. Practia'y fallin' 'round me ears." He smacked one of the walls to demonstrate and it obliged, falling over and burying him. Spike decided that enough was enough, and passed out again.

* * *

><p>Angel may have still been feeling weak and disoriented from his return from hell, but he wasn't backing down from a kid and a librarian.<p>

"Oh? What, you get a haircut and think you're enough to take me?" The big vampire surged forward only to stop as he heard the 'click' of a small crossbow and feel a sharp point against his chest.

"Me? Maybe. Maybe not. But Giles can hit a dime with a crossbow at a hundred yards. Mrs. Summers has been practicing as well. I don't need to stake you, Angel. I just need to distract you while someone else does. And let me tell you, there's no shortage of volunteers. Heck, Cordy started getting some practice in when she heard you were back."

"Fine." Angel stepped back and both living men lowered their weapons. Slightly. Giles handed Angel a business card.

"What's this?"

"As much as I personally dislike you, you have fought against the darkness, and should have some resources to call upon. Should you require my expertise in research to identify some supernatural threat or another, I-I'll, provide what assistance I may. However, I fully agree with Xander's threats, and will not hesitate to end you should you show up uninvited."

Angel took the card, understanding the peace gesture as what it was.

"Can I say goodbye to her?"

"She's already left."

Shoulders slouched, despondent, the vampire with a soul left, and was soon out of Sunnydale.

* * *

><p>"Why aren't I a wreck? I mean, when I first saw him back I froze up, and then I cried all night. I've been moping this past week because of him, trying to figure out what to say, and what to do. And then I see him, and I'm overflowing with emotion, and…that's it? I tell him to leave and never come back, and walk away?"<p>

Buffy collapsed on her couch as Oz continued to strum his base. She was puzzled and confused, not necessarily in that order, but didn't feel as bad as she felt she should have. In her mind, it was such a huge, soul-wrenching decision, but she was barely in the basement five minutes before she left.

"Could be you'd already said all you needed last spring. Could be the week waiting took care of all the stressing. Could be a Slayer thing. But it doesn't mean you're bad. Or shallow."

Buffy closed her mouth as he said shallow, having been about to ask that exact thing. She glared at him, knowing it would have no effect on the musician, and then started up again more slowly.

"He feels different. It used to be I'd be alone with him, and my pulse would race, my heart beat faster. I was convinced it was because it was beating for both of us. Just now, I felt the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. I could still feel the emotions, but they drained away so fast. It just doesn't make sense."

"Sounds mystical. Definitely a Slayer thing."

"Great. As if being a Slayer wasn't bad enough for my love life."

Oz pauses in his playing and raises his eyebrow at her.

"OK, so this isn't the same. None of my other ex's tried to destroy the world. Or were vampires. It's still weird that I was so worked up and then…nothing."

"Talk to Giles. He might have some idea."

"Guess you don't have all the answers then." Buffy teased, starting to get over her funk.

"No, but I made sure your mom bought another pint of Rocky Road."

"Stop being perfect Oz. Willow would hate me if I tried to steal you, and I'd be embarrassed when I failed."

The musician shrugged. "Love makes us do the wacky."

* * *

><p>The sun finally set again as the wreckage of the warehouse started to move, and Spike dragged himself out from under it.<p>

"Ow. Well, this was pointless. I may as well bugger off again, don't want to run into Summers. I'll just sit here a spell and…" Spike dropped the cigarette he had just put into his mouth. "That's it! A spell! That red-headed bint that hangs around with the Slayer fancies herself a witch of some sort. I'll get her to put the mojo on Dru and I'm back in the game!"

* * *

><p>AN: Oh Spike, will I ever tire of using you as a punching bag? Probably not.<p>

Sooooo, you may have noticed that I wrote Angel out of the series. That's for real. I have no intention of bringing him back. This is not a Buffy-Angel crossover. And, quite frankly, for all the good points about that show, there were huge parts I didn't like. Like the powers.

I'm anticipating my first flames over this decision, but bring them on. It's still cold here, I could use the heat.


	18. It's not just Sid who's Vicious

The party of the first part (that's me) acknowledges that the parties of the second part (Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Productions, Fox) own the characters and trademarks from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Alright, that's over, so let's party!

* * *

><p>Spike was having an annoying evening. Sure, he'd had the brilliant idea of finding that little red-headed wannabe witch and putting the thumbscrews to her until she got Dru under a love spell, but he couldn't find the little bint! He'd checked the magic shop, the school, and then run out of ideas because he had no idea where she lived. Or anyone lived aside from Summers and Peaches, really.<p>

"Best head over to the Slayer's place, see if I can track her down from there. Don't rightfully feel up to tangling with blondie right now, not until I sober up, leastways."

"Well, we ain't her, but you're still out of luck, Spike."

The bottle blond turned around to see a group of six vampires standing there, holding broken boards with nails in them and chains in a very menacing manner. He squinted at them for a second and then smiled.

"Gerry, how are you and the boys? Here to throw me a welcome back party? I'm flattered."

The lead vampire rolled his eyes. "It's Rick. We don't want you back here causing trouble, so you'll be getting a boot party. And you'll be flattened."

Spike furrowed his brow. "Wot?" Just before getting hit in the face with a length of chain.

* * *

><p>Buffy never considered herself a great brain. She had Giles and Willow to do the deep thinking for her, and before she became a Slayer, she was, if she was totally honest, kind of vapid. But she understood body language quite well, both from her time as princess of Hemery High when gossip was a way of life, and also from being the Slayer, though that was a very different type of body language. She quickly realized what it meant when Xander couldn't stop his furtive glances at Faith, and Faith had toned down the flirting with Xander, but kept shooting bedroom eyes at him.<p>

Buffy felt conflicted. On one hand, Xander was one of her best friends, someone who had been there for her regardless of the problems and the pain. He'd brought her back to life, stood by her with a broken arm and a rock, facing down the end of the world, and, most unbelievable for a teenaged male, turned her down when his love spell gone wrong had her doing her absolute best to seduce him. He definitely deserved joy, and Faith would be good for him. Faith also needed someone to help ground her, calm her crazy down without losing it, and Xander would be good for that. In all honesty, they were a good couple; at least as good as you could get with the insanity in their lives.

On the other hand, she'd always thought Xander was cute, in a puppy dog sort of way. But over the summer he'd put on some muscles, and his military training had given him…focus. He'd gone from being one of the girls, to being very much one of the boys. She'd never admit it, but the first time she'd seen him in a suit, she almost jumped him then and there. Not to mention she felt she owed him for the whole stripper pole thing.

She studiously ignored the fact that she'd come close to making out with Faith three times so far, which really puzzled her, since when she wasn't around the brunette, she didn't really think about her that much, unlike when she was falling for Angel. Some introspection may have given her some idea as to why she kept trying to get, um, physical with the Bostonian, but she was happily ignoring all of it.

Buffy huffed, and shook her head. There was really only one way to deal with these thoughts. She needed a good workout. A slightly cruel smile crossed her face as she though up the perfect target. Partner. She meant partner.

* * *

><p>Two vampires were hoofing it as fast as they could, three were down on the ground unmoving, and Spike was pinning Gerry to the wall by his throat. Spike could feel his broken ribs aching in his chest, and couldn't see all that well due to his black eye and broken nose, but Gerry was so scared he'd have pissed himself if he could have.<p>

Spike looked back at the fleeing figures and spit to the side, forcing his broken tooth out of his mouth. "Bunch of plonkers. I may have had a bad run lately, but I'm bloody William the Bloody! Not some tuppence joey you can push around for a lark."

Twisting his wrists he snapped Gerry's neck, and rolled the four broken vampires for cash and whatnot before finishing them off and staggering to the street to looking around. It was still evening, rather than full on night, but this street seemed relatively quiet.

There. A middle-aged woman with her toy poodle. She was walking along without a care before pale hands grabbed her and pulled, shoving her up against the wall as Spike bit down on her throat. She tried to scream, but the pressure on her vocal chords was too much, and she silently succumbed.

Spike straightened up, wiping the blood off his face and grimacing as he fixed his nose, feeling much better after a drink. He cracked his jaw and then whirled around and punted the yappy little thing for distance to shut it up.

"Much better. Now, If I were a Slayer's annoying brainy sidekick, where would I be?" He smacked his forehead with a wince. "Ah, shit! Ow! Right, Peaches said they hung out at their school library. Bunch of goodie-goodies. Well, off to borrow a bookworm."

* * *

><p>Faith frowned as she heard the doorbell, not expecting anyone. Sure, she was gonna' patrol later on, but she had hours to kill, and the Discovery Channel was doing a thing on muscle cars. Flipping off the tube, she got up and wandered over to the door before throwing it open.<p>

"Hey, B! Wasn't expecting you tonight. Sup?"

Buffy shot Faith a brittle smile as she walked in. "Well, I was having a hard time focusing on homework, so I decided that some sparring would be just what the doctor ordered to clear my head. Wanna be my workout partner?"

Faith cocked her head to the side and gave the blond a look. Though she had the right perky tone, there was something in Buffy's eyes that made her think something was off.

"Sure thing B. I could use a warm-up before headin' out on patrol." Faith turned her back to the other Slayer and peeled off her shirt as she headed to the gym, leaving her in her sports bra and yoga pants.

Buffy dropped her jacket to the floor and stepped out of her shoes, trying to ignore the churning feeling in her belly that always seemed to show up nowdays when she was around Faith. "Sure, just a nice, light, warm-up!"

Buffy pushed off and leapt forward on her last syllable, barreling into the younger Slayer and throwing a hook to her belly. But Faith wasn't caught by surprise and used the punch to break away and set up a counter. The two of them quickly fell into an aggressive rhythm, throwing punishing blows, but keeping solid defenses.

"I'm guessin' that this ain't about blowin' off steam. It's more about X, right?" Faith grunted as she blocked a brutal body shot that Buffy followed with a snap-kick to the shin, forcing the brunette back.

"Xander! Can make! His own! Choices!" Buffy punctuated each phrase with a heavy punch, before ducking under Faith's jab and circling back to find an opening. "Just like I can express frustration at them."

"Hey, B, I ain't sayin' he's not fine, but you had your chance." Faith lashed out with a side-kick that connected solidly, pushing her opponent back and spinning her around.

Buffy's eyes turned red and she pounced on the usurper, hands clawing for her throat.

Faith's eyes turned red as she grabbed the imposter's wrists, throwing her to the side and spearing her hand towards the imposter's eyes.

Buffy twisted and hooked her legs around the usurper's, taking them both to the ground and trying to pin her so she could tear out her throat.

Faith wrestled with the imposter, grabbing her hands so neither of them could claw at each other. She tried to get her legs between them to flip the imposter, but found them tangled together. As the imposter tried to bite her jugular, she responded with a head-butt, splitting them apart.

Buffy rolled away and scooted back to the wall, holding her head with one hand and getting into a crouching guard with the other. Across from her, Faith was doing the same.

"The FUCK was that? All of the sudden this went from a spar to trying to kill each other?"

"I-I don't know, Faith. It was like I, I was suddenly made of rage. Like I had to…" Buffy trailed off, looking pale and sick. "I'm going to go outside and call Giles. This isn't the first time we've had weird thing happen when we get close to each other."

"Sucking face and ripping someone's throat out is NOT the same thing! But you're right. I'll call Elliott."

The two young women separated and went to place their calls.

* * *

><p>Twenty minutes later a pair of cars pulled up and Xander, Giles and Marston piled out. Giles immediately went over to the blond standing outside, while Marston and Xander rushed inside.<p>

"Buffy! A-are you alright?" Buffy gave a wan smile at Giles' question.

"I'm OK, Giles, just shook up. And scared of what's happening to me. I finally started to feel normal again, I have friends, and family, and now I'm losing control and it terrifies me!" Buffy started off calm, and became progressively more shrill and anxious as she continued.

Giles hesitated for a moment and then wrapped his arms around her, comforting her. "It's alright, Buffy, we'll get to the bottom of this, don't fret."

Buffy smiled into his tweet coat. "I'm not fretting. Whatever that is."

"No, but you are standing outside without any shoes on."

* * *

><p>The two of them walked into the kitchen and sat at the other end of the long table. Marston was next to Faith, with a comforting hand on her arm, and Xander was sitting half-way in between them.<p>

"I believe we've all had the briefing on what has occurred, including the, ah, incidents before now?" Marston asked with his customary tone.

Giles coughed and cleaned his glasses. "Yes I-I believe we're caught up, thank you. Unfortunately, I suspect that this might be a relic of having two Slayers at once, and therefore unprecedented."

"I just want to say, up front, I never tried to kiss Kendra."

Xander's blush, which was already a nice tomato hue, deepened, and he coughed, trying to clear the image from his mind so he could focus.

Marston seemed to find this funny, rather than embarrassing, unlike the other two men in the room. "True, but Kendra spent less than four days in Sunnydale all told, and no more than what? Six, ten hours near you? Faith has been here for weeks, and has gone to class with you, patrolled with you, and even socialized with you regularly. You've spent dozens, if not hundreds of hours together, so it may be a question of exposure. You two have been almost as close as sisters lately, so it must be something, supernatural, for lack of a more precise term."

"Huh." Xander said as he put his chin in his hand.

Everyone sat there for a long moment before realizing he wasn't saying anything else.

"Yes, Xander? Have you thought of something?"

"Hm? Oh, sorry Giles, it just reminded me of a conversation I overheard between Oz and Willow a few weeks back. Oz was working on a song, and mentioned these two being supernatural sisters, but Willow corrected him, saying it was more like mother and daughter, because the Slayer spirit is passed on to the next Slayer. He asked how Buffy still had her powers if it was passed on, and she paused, and just sat there, staring at him. Then she threw herself back into the books, and I was distracted by something. I hadn't thought of it until now."

* * *

><p>In the library, Willow was hard at work as usual. Ever since Oz had asked her that question about Buffy still having her powers, she'd been searching for an answer. She was embarrassed about the question, since it was obvious Buffy was fine, but she needed to know. She didn't feel it was important enough to bother Giles or Mr. Marston, but she still wanted to know.<p>

Oz was sitting nearby, strumming away as he worked on another new song. She'd heard some of his work, which was much better than what the Dingoes performed, and asked why they never played his stuff. He told her that he wanted someone with talent to front his songs, and when he found a good vocalist, he'd start performing them. She had a hard time disagreeing. Devon was more a fan of the groupies, then the music.

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the doors opening and a voice saying "Brilliant! Play Anarchy in the UK!"

Willow turned in horror as a somewhat battered Spike strolled into the library. Oz was up like a flash, swinging his bass at the vampire. Spike caught it and launched the musician back with a boot to the stomach.

"Sorry mate, I can't stand The Who. Tommy was rubbish." Spike followed the kick with a left cross that flung the musician into the cage and knocked him out.

Willow scrambled through her bag, looking for a cross before feeling her boyfriend's bass under her chin. It lifted her up until she was standing, facing Spike.

"Come on love. Give us a kiss." Spike smiled at her, before delivering a head-butt that made her eyes roll back and the world float away…

* * *

><p>AN: it's been a month! And here's another chapter! I honestly do think that Spike is pathetic, and easy to mock, but that doesn't mean he's not dangerous.<p>

If you couldn't figure out my references, or what the hell I'm talking about, mention it in a review. If enough people ask, I'll post a translation down here.

Oh, and you have all figured out who Elliott Marston looks like, right? If not, mention that and I'll tell you next chapter.


	19. Magic, mostly

This is a work of fiction and parody. The characters portrayed are used under fair use laws, and not for profit. So if one of Fox's or Mutant Enemy's lawyers is reading this, go make another season of Firefly, rather than try to sue someone as broke as me.

* * *

><p>"You're telling me that Willow has suspected some sort of-of supernatural wrongness between the two of them for weeks, and never bothered to tell us? Of all the-the, childish, immature…"<p>

Giles' rant trailed off as the group trouped into the library to confront the errant red-head and research the issue at hand when they saw Oz sprawled out on the floor, and no sign of Willow.

Buffy rushed over to the musician as Xander pulled his first-aid kit out of the cage. The blond Slayer was relieved to find that Oz was still breathing, and didn't seem badly injured, though the bruise on his head would hurt for a while. Xander quickly brought him round, and ended up with a panicky werewolf on his hands.

…well, panicky for Oz.

"Spike."

One word was all that was needed to send a jolt through the scoobies. Spike wasn't the most powerful of the adversaries that they'd faced, but he was still kicking, which put him in a unique position.

Not that everyone present knew that.

"What Spike? Who wakes up complaining about their hairstyle?"

Giles cast a weary look at Faith while Marston looked at the other Watcher quizzically.

"Spike is the colloquial name of William the Bloody, the youngest member of the Whirlwind, the most destructive band of vampires in recorded history. He has 3 known Slayer kills, and was involved in the attempt to end the world last year. If he's back in town, it does not bode well."

Faith rolled her shoulders in cocky manner and cracked her neck. "Well, let's go lay the pain down on Spiky, get our brainy-girl back, and figure out what is up with B an' me. No sweat."

Giles rolled his eyes, but started to gather the tomes and components needed for a locator spell, finishing with the locked case of hairs from the hidden drawer in his desk. Fishing out the red one, he started giving out orders.

"Xander, get into your trance and see if you can track her. Faith and Elliott will accompany you. Buffy, assist me with the ritual, and then Oz, you and I will head directly to where she is, in case you three lose the trail. Use the, um, mobile thingies to stay in touch, and don't do anything reckless. Spike is very dangerous, and has Willow."

Xander was already sitting cross-legged on the floor, trying to slow his breathing as Oz grabbed a couple of painkillers and joined him. Faith and Marston were arming up from the cage, with Faith grabbing Xander's backup axe, and Buffy was carefully drawing out some chalk lines, trying to copy from the tome he had open.

Xander's eyes opened up, glowing yellow, and he took a deep sniff.

"I have her." He growled out, and stalked out of the room, followed by Faith and Marston.

* * *

><p>Willow awoke to a face-full of cold water.<p>

"Oy, Red, up and at'em. Time to make with the magic."

Confused, she looked around. She was lying in a cold, dark room, likely a basement of some type, chained to the wall by her ankle, and Spike was standing over her, talking and…

'OhmigodSpike? Thatssupernotgood! Hesevilandmeanand…he hit me!'

Spike snapped his fingers in front of her face, dragging her out of her thoughts. 'Weird bint.'

"Hey! Magic time! I didn't drag you here for your sparkling conversation, after all. Make with the spells. Now!"

Willow jumped when he slammed his hand against the wall, punctuating his last statement.

"Umm, umm, ahh, what spells?" She cringed away and covered her head, hoping that her arms would absorb the blow.

…a few moments later she peaked out, and saw him apparently thinking.

"Right, you were unconscious when I told you. You're gonna make everything starshine and bluebells between Dru and I, right?"

Willow looked at the vampire blankly.

"…love spell. You cast a love spell for me. Is that plain enough English for you?" Spike growled at her.

"Ummm, ahh, I, um, don't know any um, love spells?" Willow's voice reached a register normally used to call dogs by the end of her stuttered statement.

Spike groaned, rubbed his ear, and shrugged.

"Right then. No use, guess I'll have one for the road, and head off to figure out a better plan."

"O-ok, have a nice trip!" Willow waved at him somewhat desperately.

"You realized that YOU'RE the one for the road, right luv?"

"…did you say love spells, or, um, glove spells? Um, because, ah, I'm terrible with, um, GLOVE spells, but love spells, um, hey, no problem! Right?" Willow babbled nervously

"Knew you had it in you. Now get cracking."

* * *

><p>Marston had got a call from Giles after half an hour of following Willow's trail, which was a lucky break because it seemed that Spike was quite skilled at hiding his trail.<p>

"They're on their way, and say that he's in the green warehouse on 4th and Spruce." Elliot relayed to his team.

Xander let out a growl, his eyes almost glowing yellow. "A good place to kill." He was about to charge off when Faith grabbed him and pulled him back. He snarled at her, but she snarled right back, getting up in his face.

"Reign it in, stud. We go charging in, we're like to get Red dead, y'read me? So push it back and pull your brain back out, X-man." Faith tried to hide her worry, not for the newbie witch, but for her boyfriend who seemed to be joining her in the feral and crazy club.

Xander stared at her for a long moment before his eyes dimmed, the normal brown showing through. "No-one gets away with hurting my pack, and he's done it before. But you're right, we need a plan."

Elliot cleared his throat before giving his wards a reproving glance. "If we could think like humans for a moment, it's clear that waiting for Rupert, Buffy and Mr. Osbourne is the wise choice, but that doesn't mean we can't reconnoiter first." He sighed upon receiving blank looks. "Scout the place out?"

"Ahhh." He rolled his eyes as they chimed in with the pretense of understanding. Muttering about American youth under his breath, he took the lead towards the warehouse so they could see what was waiting for them.

* * *

><p>Spike glared at her as she trembled, trying not to drop one of Drusilla's dolls that Spike had kept, along with a lock of her hair, flecked with her dried blood. That would have been creepy if he hadn't had it in a locket under his shirt. No, wait. That was still creepy. She was surprised at how prepared Spike was for the ritual, he'd had a pile of tomes, as well as several kinds of reagents, enough for her to cobble something together.<p>

She coughed a few times before lighting the candles and starting the chant. She was therefore understandably startled when the upper door burst open and Buffy came charging through, quickly followed by Oz.

Spike snarled "You stop chanting, you start bleeding!" before grabbing a baseball bat and taking a mighty swing at Buffy. She dropped back before kipping up and tying up the bat, leaving Spike vulnerable to a tackle from Oz. The vampire threw the werewolf over him and rolled to his feet in time to catch a haymaker from Buffy. Stumbling towards the wall, he was shocked when the back door he'd hidden was thrown open, revealing another three enemies for him to fight. A quick check on his captive mage showed the old English ponce pulling her away and protecting her, showing he wasn't getting his spell done tonight.

The vampire braced for the renewed conflict when one of the jars on the table exploded, filling the room with a noxious smoke. It took several minutes to clear, but Spike was long gone by then.

Willow was on the receiving end of many hugs as Marston jimmied her ankle cuff open. But it was only when Buffy complained about Spike getting away that Faith and Xander started to chuckle.

"What's so funny, guys?" She asked the pair with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, we were, as M put it, recon-ing, when we found a car with blacked out windows. So Xander slid underneath and cut the break lines. Spikey may have gotten away, but he's not gonna have an easy ride, y'see?"

It was Giles, of all people that broke the stunned silence with laughter, but it soon proved to be contagious, as the room filled with genuine, joyous noise.

* * *

><p>Spike staggered out of his now wrecked car that had just taken down the hastily repaired Sunnydale sign. "I BLOODY WELL HATE THIS TOWN!"<p>

* * *

><p>The Mayor turned to his newest associate as she put away her mirror and cleaned up after her spell. "I think that went quite well, don't you? I'll admit, William is not the sort I want in town, being rebellious and difficult to manage, but he does remain an excellent distraction for young miss Summers and her friends. Your spell work was impeccable, giving him just enough cover to escape. Well done, Miss Post."<p>

The blond ex-Watcher smiled at her benefactor. "Thank you, Mister Mayor. I appreciate the chance not only to be a part of something greater, but to extract some measure of revenge against those who thwarted me."

"Oh, there's no need to worry about that. All in good time, my dear, all in good time."

* * *

><p>AN: Yes, I know it's been a while. Life got busy, and will likely remain so in the foreseeable future, but at least I'm feeling inspired.<p>

I meant to post last chapter that I had passed a significant milestone: I now have more reviews than chapters. I feel all tingly thinking about it, and I sincerely thank everyone who has left one. But of course, feel free to leave more of them.

I also have to have Buffy make more puns. I'm re-watching the series, and had forgotten just what her sense of humor was like.


	20. It's like a rubber band

All characters presented in this story are borrowed without permission under various fair use acts. I make no money off of this story, so don't come after me. Go after someone else who has money. May I suggest the banks?

* * *

><p>After a happy reunion with a shaken, but unharmed Willow, Buffy put her foot down and dragged everyone back to Revello drive, so she could finally get some answers without news of fresh disaster happening.<p>

"Everyone, welcome to my lovely home. Coffee and soda will be out momentarily, and tea will follow shortly. Now everyone sit down, and if you try to leave before we finish this discussion, I'll break your legs! Isn't that fun?" Xander couldn't decide what was scarier, the words Buffy was saying, or the manic grin on her face as she said them. Rather than dwell on that, he looked around at the gathered folk. Oz was sitting next to Willow on the loveseat, giving her hugs and comfort, and she was visibly calmer than she had been when they walked in. Xander shook his head, the zen master strikes again. Marston and Giles were going over some notes that they'd had on them, Faith had dropped her feet in his lap and was kicking back, but he could see the tension in her body, and Buffy and Joy-Mrs. Summers had just walked back in, carrying drinks and snacks.

"Ok, we are going to discuss this weird…thing going on between me and Faith, and we are going to share all information we have, and then we are going to talk about any other strange supernatural stuff going on, and then I'm going to bed because I'm getting a headache."

Giles stood, stiffly, and took off his glasses to polish them. This immediately focused the attention of the entire room on him, as they all knew by now that he did that as a stall when he was nervous about important information.

"Well, um, Buffy, it-ah-it seems that, well, somehow, um, there is an-ah, well…"

"Giles…" Buffy's growl was low and menacing.

"Oh for God's sake. The Slayer spirit inhabiting both of you has never been split before, and is trying to either eliminate the copy, or, well, to 'become one'." Elliott stuttered slightly over the last part, but managed to deliver it with a straight face.

The reaction around the room was varied. Oz raised an eyebrow, Willow did her impression of a tomato, Giles tried to polish a hole in his glasses, Joyce covered her mouth in shock, Cordelia didn't budge from her perma-snark face, Xander's eyes looked like dinner plates, Faith looked vaguely ill, and Buffy…

…well, Buffy had apparently short circuited. If one stared at her long enough, they might even see the smoke coming out of her ears. Or perhaps not. Regardless, she wasn't really able to process this information.

"Luckily, while Ms. Rosenberg should have informed us of her findings before, her solo research has paid off. She found the beginnings of a solution that doesn't involve isolation or locking you two in a room and not opening it until the noise dies down."

Faith looked slightly relieved, Xander's eyes were still bigger than his head, and Buffy OS 2.1 was still frozen.

"We are working on completing the ritual that Ms. Rosenberg started, and it seems as though the books we liberated from Spike may be of assistance here. We should have a workable ritual by the end of the week, so until then, keep your distance from each other. After we perform the ritual, you should be safe around each other, without any strange things passing though your minds. Aside from teenaged thoughts, which will never be classified as 'normal'." Elliott finished.

Buffy apparently rebooted at that point, and responded with a frown, followed by a thoughtful look, followed by another frown for the crack about teenagers. But her vengeance was derailed by her mother offering a new round of drinks, and she was eventually sidetracked by the discussion on the ritual to loosen the connection between the two Slayers.

"Why not just break the connection entirely? Wouldn't that be safer?" the diminutive blond asked.

"Well, um, Buffy, yes, it would be safer from the standpoint of you not killing each other, but it might also rob one or both of you of your connection to the Slayer, or banish the connection entirely, so we decided to not to do that." Giles explained.

"…I like your way. I'm going to sit over here and try not to screw up any important rituals that could doom humanity."

* * *

><p>The next few days seemed to fly by, with nothing of interest happening aside from some transfer student trying to hassle Cordelia and getting the brush off, and having similar luck with Buffy as well. She eventually seemed to strike up a friendship with one of the girls from the track team, but since she wasn't involved in any supernatural nastiness, the Scoobies ignored her. On Thursday after school they gathered in the library to find that Mr. Marston, Giles and Willow, with some input from Oz, managed to assemble a ritual to make the Slayers safe around each other. It would take place on Saturday night, under the new moon, after each of the magically-aware Scoobies had a chance to review their notes.<p>

Buffy, Cordelia and Xander were on patrol for the night, with Oz manning the radio at Revello, so Marston volunteered to drive Faith home so she could work out and get her annoying homework out of the way. The Bostonian admitted, if only to herself, that she missed hanging around with the whole gang, but a few days of isolation wouldn't kill her.

She was shaken from her reverie by Marston. "Ms. Lehane, Faith, I just wanted to say that while you have certain rough edges, I have come to greatly admire how you handle your duties as a Slayer, and that I believe you are the ideal, not envisioned by the stuffed upper crust back in jolly old, but actually what a Slayer should be."

Faith colored slightly and looked away at the unsolicited compliment. "Jeez, thanks E-M. I'm just doin' my best, y'know?"

"Indeed." Was all she heard before a searing heat stabbed into her neck with a crackling noise, and blackness flowed over her eyes.

* * *

><p>Faith awoke to a bucket of water to the face and a sledgehammer to her gut. She opened her mouth to gasp, and her eyes followed as she inhaled water. She was under water! She tried to swim, but found her arms and legs restrained, and her rapidly fading strength wasn't enough to break free. Her lungs screamed for air uselessly as she thrashed about, and the cold was lulling her to sleep. She tried, she really did, but it wasn't enough, and she felt herself slipping away into darkness…<p>

* * *

><p>AN: DUN DUN DUN! I have to admit, I'm not thrilled with this chapter, hence why it took so long to make it here, but I'm writing again, and the next one is already started, so don't hate me (for the delay, at least. Do it for a good reason if you must.) Next chapter out soon (later on this month soon, not before the heat death of the universe soon).<p>

Please review, or don't. I'm not a cop.


	21. Drowning

The disclaimer for this chapter was stolen by aliens, who claimed to be working for JKR. I don't know why they're interfering with a Buffy story. Anyhow, I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or any associated properties. And if anything is missing, blame the aliens.

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><p>A jackhammer slams into her gut as fire stabs into her heart, forcing Faith's eyes open again. She vomits out a stream of water, and coughs until her lungs feel like they're bleeding. Opening her eyes, she tries to look around. Her head is restrained, strapped to some sort of board. In fact, her entire body is restrained. She soaking wet, upside-down, and…yup, naked too. Except for…a diaper? So, she was drowned, revived, and, well, that's now.<p>

Faith coughed again to try and clear her throat. Still feels like sandpaper, but that won't stop her. "What's going on?" she croaked out.

"It's unfortunately simple, my dear. I drowned you, until death set in, and then revived you. Just like happened to Buffy a year and a half ago. With one difference." A familiar voice answered her.

"Elliott? Why?" she demanded of the man she had started to think of as her Watcher.

"The difference being that I have managed to trap the Slayer spirit fountainhead, if you will, inside of you. Hence the magic circle, and the runes along your body. I apologize for the nudity, but the alternative was having you sit around in wet clothing, which would be unhealthy." Marston responded in a maddeningly calm tone.

"You killed me you son of a bitch! The hell you care about my health! When I get out of here, I'ma rip your head off!"

"You won't be getting out of here, Faith. Haven't you figured it out yet? I'm re-creating the circumstances that twinned the Slayer line, except I'm keeping the line with you. I owe Miss Rosenberg a debt of gratitude there, her research was the last part I needed for the ritual to keep the line anchored in you."

Faith felt a chill that had nothing to do with her wet, naked state. She wasn't an expert in dealing with crazies, but you didn't spend time on the streets without picking some of the essentials up, and Elliott Marston was the dangerous kind of crazy. Not because she was at his potentially non-existent mercy, though that didn't help, but because he was inspired. He Believed, and nothing was going to change his mind.

"What d'ya plan on doing with an extra Slayer? It's not like three of us is a huge improvement over two of us." Faith was desperate to keep him talking. If he was talking, he wasn't drowning her.

"And you still fail to understand. I don't want one extra Slayer. At any time, the council is aware of fifty to one hundred potentials, with at least that many unknown. I don't plan for one extra. I plan for an army."

Faith opened her mouth to argue, but the water rushed up to greet her, and the breath in her lungs was forced out by the electrodes on her diaphragm.

* * *

><p>Pain and light greeted her once more, and again she threw up two lung-fulls of water. This time, she was aware of Marston speaking over her retching.<p>

"Each time I drown and revive you, another Slayer is chosen. I would do this in a continuous loop if not for the fact that I have to re-stabilize the ritual after each death, which is an annoying delay. Still, at this rate, I should manage fifty by sunrise. Of course, you'll start experiencing brain damage after the fifth time or so, and regress to a vegetative state sometime between the twentieth and thirtieth time, but that's unfortunately unavoidable. I don't have any particular grudge against you, or any real desire for you to suffer, but one does as one must." Marston spoke in an even, clipped tone, his normal drawling accent minimized due to his focus.

Gasping for breath, her head swimming, Faith desperately tried to think of something to distract him. "I doubt that the Slayer spirit will stick around in a vegetable, what with the whole mystical warrior thing going on, y'know?"

"It's happened before. The council black archives, where the truly dirty deeds are buried, tell tales of Slayers who survived grievous head wounds, but were little more than drones. The Slayer spirit did not leave, and even started to heal the poor creatures. It was estimated that they would have returned to functionality after a decade or so, though without any memories of their original personalities. As you may have deduced by now, the council lacks patience, and the girls were executed, so the strength of the Slayer could pass on. I expect the same to happen to you."

Faith had been scared before. Seeing Kakistos kill Diana had turned her blood to ice, and taken from her everything but the ability to flee. Some of her experiences from before she became the Slayer back on the streets of Boston visited her nightmares to this day. But she'd never been quite as terrified as she was now, held captive by this well-spoken Englishman who planned on killing her all night.

"Elliott, you can't do this!" Faith begged desperately.

"I've done it twice so far. And it has worked. So it appears that yes, I can."

Faith was once more plunged into the water, and had the air torn from her lungs.

* * *

><p>As she came to a third time, spewing and in agony, Faith knew despair. Her limbs felt like lead, and her heart ached with each beat. Things seemed sluggish and blurry, but snapped into focus moments later in a demonstration of Slayer healing that she didn't really appreciate at the time.<p>

She'd tried breaking her way out (strength without leverage is easily neutralized), and she'd tried talking her way out (but reasoning with a madman is futile). She was out of ideas, and terrified that she would start slipping away a piece at a time, her brain rotting from lack of oxygen. Marston was speaking again, but she didn't care. All she could hear was her heartbeat thundering in her ears, beating off-tempo, and getting louder.

As she realized that she wasn't hearing her heart, the door shattered.

* * *

><p>Buffy rose to her feet amidst the splinters of the door. Faith was shackled to a metal slab above a tank of water, inside an elaborate runic circle. A further protective ward contained Marston and his bizarre ritual set-up. She glared at the Watcher as Willow and Giles started analyzing the runes, and Oz and Cordelia held Xander back.<p>

Marston grabbed a large pistol from the table next to him and closed his book with a small sigh.

"I suppose that I made an error somewhere in covering my tracks? I'm impressed at how quickly you found me." He stated calmly.

"You remember the whole conversation we had in my mom's living room a few hours ago? How Faith and I share the Slayer spirit? Well, when you try to cut it off from me, it's pretty damn noticeable." Buffy spat at him.

Marston winced, but his hand didn't waver. "Should have thought of that. Getting sloppy in my old age. And you immediately suspected me?"

"Willow and Giles tried a tracking spell on Faith, and when that didn't work, one on you, since we couldn't find you either. We didn't suspect it was you behind this until we got here and the only car was yours." Buffy tensed her muscles, ready to leap as soon as her brain trust figured out what would happen when she crossed the ward line.

"I thank you for the undeserved charity. I won't bother defending my actions, as they are quite indefensible. Miss Lehane will be able to explain what happened, eventually, but as the ends truly don't justify the means…" At this point, Elliott dropped the book he was holding into a brazier, watching it flare up improbably high, and consume the journal very quickly. "…I would rather that no-one can attempt to re-create my method. Rupert, you should read my other notes. There are things you have not considered about the Hellmouth, and far worse out there than I. Lie to the council. They should not know what happened here."

"Do you really think we're going to let you go after this?" Buffy snarled at him, trying to ignore the echoing growl from Xander.

"I didn't plan on letting it get that far." Elliott shrugged, put the gun to his temple and fired.

* * *

><p>Everyone froze in shock as Marston fell to the floor, half his head painted against the wall and ceiling. The runic circles both flashed and faded slightly, prompting Giles to run over and start freeing Faith. Buffy stood stunned for a moment and rushed to join him and Xander, who had beat her to the punch. Willow and Cordelia looked paled, and Oz escorted them out to get some fresh air and avoid the puddle of brains.<p>

As soon as she was free, Faith clung to Buffy and Xander and cried. A small part of her head was screaming at her for being weak in front of others, but she ignored it for the sheer relief of being alive.

After a few moments, Buffy untangled herself from the brunette Slayer. "Sorry Faith. I'm glad you're alive, I truly am, but we only have a short while before the whole urge to kill rises, and I'd prefer to avoid that after the day you've had. Rain check with chocolate ice cream for the weekend?"

Faith wiped her eyes and tried to pull herself together, forgetting she was wrapped around Xander wearing nothing but a diaper. "I'll let you off the hook this time, B, but only 'cause I know you're tired from patrol, and I'd hate to embarrass you in a fight."

Buffy smiled at the bravado before leaving the room.

* * *

><p>AN: And the turn. First off, please let me know if you think this chapter upgrades the rating to M. I don't think it does, but I'm also callous and desensitized, so my judgment might be off here.<p>

Second, feel free to ask about the ritual. I have the entire thing planned out (aside from the actual magic, being that, y'know, reality?), but explaining the whole thing would have interrupted the flow of the chapter.

Third, what do you think of the new twists? Who will be chosen? Will I bother including them in story in the foreseeable future? Only time will tell.

And lastly, please review. It encourages me, though some might see that as a bad thing.

Thanks.


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